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LIBYAN NOTES

COMPARISON OF KABYLE AND PREHISTORIC EGYPTIAN POTTERY. Frontispiece.

PREHISTORIC EGYPTIAN

Scale 1:3

LIBYAN NOTES

DAVID RANDALL-MACIVER, M.A.

LAYCOCK STUDENT OF EGYPTOLOGY AT WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD ; FORMERLY A SCHOLAR OF

queen's COLLEGE, OXFORD

AND

ANTHONY WILKIN, B.A.

LATE OF king's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Eontion
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited

NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
I 901

PREFACE

This volume is the result of an expedition to Algeria undertaken in the
spring of the year 1900. Our special object was to obtain such infor-
mation with regard to the Berber tribes as should solve the vexed question
of their early connection with Egypt. The scope of the work has,
however, insensibly increased beyond what was originally intended, so
that a certain amount of matter has been included which it is hoped
may be of interest to the student of general Anthropology as well as to
the Egyptologist.

The first place in our acknowledgments is due to Professor W. M.
Flinders Petrie. It was his suggestions which originally inspired the
idea of the work, and whatever value it may possess as a contribution to
archaeology is due to the training acquired in working with him. In
Algeria itself our obligations are many, but especial thanks are due to
Mr. F. Hay Newton, H.B.M. Consul, and to Mr. F. Drummond Hay,
H.B.M. Vice-Consul, at Algiers, for their kind advice and assistance.
Finally, it is no less a pleasure than a duty to record that everywhere
the French officials showed us the greatest courtesy and did all in their
power to facilitate our enterprise.

D. R. M. I.
A. W.

CONTENTS

L t

CHAPTER I

PAGE

Introductory . .... . . i

CHAPTER II

General Remarks on the Berbers ..... . n

CHAPTER III
The Political and Social Organisation of a Berber People . . ic

CHAPTER IV

Government of the AurIs — Character of the Country — The Villages — Houses,

Exterior and Interior — Physical Type of the People .23

CHAPTER V
Chaw/a Life and Industries . . .31

CHAPTER VI

Chaw/a Pottery ........ 38

CHAPTER VII

Kabylia — Its Inhabitants — Villages — Houses — Cemeteries . .42

CHAPTER VIII
Kabyle Industries ........ 49

viii LIBYAN NOTES

CHAPTER IX

PAGE

Details of the Manufacture of Kabyle Pottery . . . .54

CHAPTER X

Comparison of Kabyle and Egyptian Pottery . . . . -57

CHAPTER XI

Review of Arguments in Favour of the Libyo-Egyptian Connection . . 66

CHAPTER XII

Rude Stone Monuments in Algeria ....... 78

CHAPTER XIII

Observations and Statistics on the Physical Type of the Berbers . . 95

CHAPTER XIV

Conclusions derived from the Craniological Evidence .... 102

CHAPTER XV

General Conclusion •-....... 109

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

If anthropology is a new science yet there have been both in modern and in ancient
days many amateur anthropologists. Amongst the earliest of these may be placed
various Egyptians who lived about 1300 e.g., and whose names are unfortunately
unknown, though they have left published record of their theories. On the walls of the
tombs of their royal masters, Seti I. and Merenptah, these untrained but not unobservant
ethnologists have painted the types of the four races of mankind amongst whom the
Egyptians of the nineteenth dynasty supposed the world to be partitioned. Here in the
galleries of the royal necropolis of Thebes are shown the Egyptians themselves — " man-
kind " par excellence, the Asiatics, the Negroes, and the Libyans, each clearly
differentiated by their peculiar dress and characteristic features.

The visitor to these tombs has from the first been struck by the curious fact that
the Libyans were evidently conceived by the painters to be representatives of a race
stock considerably fairer than the Egyptians. Whereas the latter are depicted in the
usual red colour employed by their native artists in all periods, the Libyans on the con-
trary are white, with blue eyes and fair beards. The occurrence of white men of
European type on a continent that is naturally thought of as inhabited mainly, if
not entirely, by black races or by Semites, is a circumstance sufficiently curious to have
aroused considerable interest ; and since North Africa has come within the range
of civilised power, observers have from time to time reiterated with no little surprise
the statement that a large proportion of fair and even of blond persons is to be found
among those Berber races which line the coast from Tripoli to Tangier, and extend far
south into the Sahara.

2 LIBYAN NOTES

That a record of these white Libyans should have been preserved from such remote
days will appear by no means singular if the geographical conditions and the history of
Egypt be recalled to mind. The Libyans were a perpetual haunting terror to the
Egyptians. The western border lay always open and defenceless, and even in the
eleventh and twelfth dynasties campaigns were conducted by Mentuhotep L* and by
Usertesen 1. against the Tahennu and the Tamahu, who threatened invasion from this
quarter. In the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties the Libyan nations constituted a
most serious menace to the independence of Egypt ; under Seti I., under Merenptah, and
under Rameses III., it was a struggle for life and death between the empire of the
Pharaohs and the barbarian confederacy which assailed it on the west.

Possibly, as there will shortly be occasion to suggest, Egypt had entertained much
earlier and much closer relations with Libya than those to which reference has just been
made. For the present, however, it is sufficient to recall the fact that at least from
the time of the eleventh to that of the twentieth dynasty the history of the Egyptian
Empire is, under one aspect, little more than the chronicle of a ceaseless struggle with
this untiring and ever encroaching foe ; a struggle, moreover, in which, as may
be judged from various indications, the Pharaohs and their subjects were not in-
frequently worsted. The power of the Libyans seems, however, to have entirely
collapsed after their great repulse by Rameses III. Whether it were that the con-
federacy, temporary only in character like all such unions of Berber peoples, was
broken up by this signal failure, or that internal dissensions kept them fully occupied
at home ; it is certain that the Libyans do not after this time take any prominent place
in Egyptian history. If it was a Libyan who ascended the throne in the twenty-
second dynasty, it was merely as a military usurper, not as a leader of invading armies,
that he did so ; his countrymen at this time and henceforward were no longer the
warlike enemies but merely the hired janissaries of the effete monarchs of the New
Empire.

As then the Libyans drop out of Egyptian history at about 1200 B.C., it is to
Greek and Roman writers that reference must be made for such information concern-
ing the people themselves, their distribution and their customs, as cannot be gleaned
from the Egyptian records. Herodotus as usual is the most valuable authority, and
his statements, derived as they are from Carthaginian and Cyrenaic sources, may no
doubt be regarded as in the main trustworthy. He divides the Libyans into two great

* I.e. Neb-hotep.

INTRODUCTORY 3

groups, those namely who dwell between Egypt and Lake Tritonis,* and those west of
the lake. Between Egypt and Lake Tritonis the Libyans are all nomads ; westward
of the lake, on the contrary, they are not nomads but agriculturists, and their customs
differ from those of their eastern kinsmen. The nomad tribes of the coast-region are
enumerated, beginning from the Egyptian side, as the Adyrmachidae, GiUgammae,
Asbystae, Auschisae, Kabales, Nasamones, Psylli, Garamantes, Macae, Gindanes,
Lotophagi, Machlyes, and Ausees. Besides these there are the Ammonii, the Augilae,
the Garamantes, and the Atarantes, who are all dwellers in the oases ; and there are
the Atlantes who are said to take their name from their proximity to the great
mountain Atlas " which is narrow and circular on all sides and is said to be so lofty
that its top cannot be seen." West of Lake Tritonis and neighbouring on the Ausees
live the Maxyes, in a country that is mountainous and thickly wooded, contrasting with
the low and sandy country of the nomads ; these Maxyes preserve a legend that they
are descended from Trojans. Next to them come the Zauekes, and then the Gyzantes,
who are great bee-keepers. These sedentary tribes west of the lake are all accustomed
to paint themselves vermilion, and the Maxyes shave the left side of the head, but
let the hair grow on the right.f

It is important to compare the list of names given by Herodotus with other
ancient and modern names. To the Egyptians the Berber peoples with whom they
came into contact were known as "Rebu" or " Lebu," " Mashuasha," "Tamahu,":]:
" Tahennu," and " Kahaka." Modern names are, in Tripoli and Tunis, " Zouaoua "
and " Djebalia " ; in Algeria " Chawia," " Kabyles," " Beni Mzab " ; in Morocco
" Chlouah," " Amazirg," " Berbers " ; in the Sahara " Touareg," " Imouchar," § " Sorgou,"
" Zenaga," and others. Of these the " Amazirg " and " Imouchar " may be pretty
certainly identified with the " Mashouash " of the Egyptians and " Maxyes " of
Herodotus, whilst the " Kabales " and " Zauekes " of the latter's account suggest the
modern "Kabyles" and "Chawia."

* The site of Lake Tritonis has been much discussed. Both Shaw and Rennell identify it with the Shibk-el-
Loudeah, the latter further considering it to have included the Lesser Syrtis. Tissot rejects the Lesser Syrtis but finds
the lake in le bassin que Pisthme de Kahh s'epare aujourd'hui de la Mediterranee. On one point writers are generally
agreed that Lake Tritonis is at least not to be looked for west of the Tunisian Shotts.

t Among the nomad tribes the Macae shaved the head on both sides and' allowed the hair to grow in the middle only.
On the Egyptian monuments the Libyans are commonly depicted as wearing a long side lock on the right side of the head.

J Tissot finds the name Tamahu in the modern Tamahak of the Sahara. He further considers the word Lebu to
be derived from Liouata, the name of a Berber tribe mentioned by Procopius as living in Tripoli and Cyrenaica, and
known to have remained there till the date of the Arab invasion.

§ More correctly Amoshagh, as Barth and others write it.

4 LIBYAN NOTES

To the Romans the native tribes of North Africa were known as " Numidae," *
" Gaetuli," and " Mauri." The origin of the name " Mauri " has been much discussed.
The most usual theory is that it is derived from a Phoenician word (the existence as
well as the form of which appear to be somewhat doubtful) akin to the modern
Arabic " Moghrab " (west). But it would seem simpler to identify it with the known
Hebrew form 'emori (Amorites). Professor Sayce has already pointed outf that the
Amorites were a fair-skinned, blue-eyed people like the Libyans. It is not, therefore,
very audacious to suppose that the name 'emori was originally given to both branches
of what is essentially a single race, though geographically it is split into two parts by
the interposition of Egypt. In comparison with Herodotus other classical authors
have little information to give. Scylax has the interesting remark that the Libyans
are l^aveoi, which a French writer amusingly takes to refer to skin colour, as though
Homer had meant to describe a Chinaman when he spoke of %avdo<i Meve\ao<;. Diodorus
Siculus supplements Herodotus in one important detail. After describing four tribes,
the Nasamones, Auschisae, Marmaridae and Macae, as living in the neighbourhood
of Cyrene, and of the Greater and Lesser Syrtis, he adds that these tribes live under
the rule of kings and have comparatively civilised customs, but that there is another
class of Libyans who are neither nomads nor agriculturists, but merely brigands. They
were in fact the prototypes of the modern Touaregs. Brutally savage in their habits,
dressing in goatskins, and having no habitations, but only storehouses for their booty,
they were good warriors skilled in the use of spear and sling, and terrorised their
neighbours, from whom they were distinguished no less by their treacherous character
than by their barbarous ferocity.

Diodorus has further an extraordinary account, which cannot be left unnoticed, of a
race of Amazons living on the western borders of Libya. The history of this people,
who had been extinct for many centuries before he wrote, goes back he says to very
ancient days, for they long preceded the Amazons who fought at Thermodon and lived
many generations before the Trojan war. After subduing a considerable district in the
neighbourhood of the Atlas mountains and of the lake Tritonis, they pushed on to
further conquests under their queen Myrina, who made an alliance with Horus son of
Isis, at that time king in Egypt. Passing through Egypt they overran Arabia, Syria,

* The term " Numidae " is generally derived from No/taScs. " Gaetuli," according to Tissot, comes from the name
of the great Berber tribe of " Gued'oula."

t See Ear/y Israel, p. 71, and cf. Races of Ola Testament.

INTRODUCTORY 5

Cilicia, and Phrygia, stopping, however, at the river Caicus. They founded the cities of
Cyme, Pitana, and Priene, and then descended upon the Greek islands of Lesbos and
Samothrace. Finally they were beaten back from Thrace and forced to return to
Libya. This mythical connection of North Africa with Syria, Asia Minor, and the
Greek islands, is highly interesting, and it may not be impossible that under the
distortions of this legend is hidden the historical fact of a great movement of the
western peoples. If such were the case the Amazons of Diodorus, this edvo's ywacKo-
Kparov/ievov, might be a Berber people in the condition of organisation known as the
Matriarchate.*

Sallust, who, from his position as proconsul, had unique opportunities of observa-
tion, was too little interested in the peoples that he governed to acquire any information
about them. He draws professedly on " the Punic books which are called those of king
Hiempsal," but succeeds in extracting very little from them. The sole point of interest
in his account is the tradition which he preserves that the army which Hercules led to
Spain was disbanded after his death, and that the Medes, Persians, and Armenians who
composed it crossed over to Africa and settled in the coast regions, where they inter-
married with the original inhabitants and eventually became merged in them.f

It was shortly after Sallust's time that the whole of North Africa definitely became
part of the Roman Empire. From the date of this absorption the history of the native
tribes is more than ever obscured. We know only that they were always a turbulent
and dangerous element, and are enabled to infer that they preserved throughout this
period much at least of their independence and of their peculiar organisation.

The Arab conquests of the seventh century reduced the country to a nominal
subjection, but down to the present generation the Berbers, at any rate of Algeria, have
maintained their ancient constitutions, and even now that they are thoroughly controlled
by the French administration, they preserve much of their individual character intact.

It has been hinted that while the Libyans are known to have been at war with the
kings of the eleventh and twelfth dynasties, yet this may have been by no means their
earliest connection with Egypt. This point brings us to consider the special purpose of

* The Kaniiri Berbers, of Bornu still live under the Matriarchal system — Barth, Travels chap. xxix. cf. chap. xiv.
The actual phrase used by Diodorus would be as indefensible as the English term " Matriarchate," originating indeed
from a similar misconception.

t Strabo seems to be echoing the same legend when he says : " There are some who affirm that the Mauri are Indians
who landed in this country with Hercules."

6 LIBYAN NOTES

the present volume. When the discoveries of Professor Flinders Petrie and Mr. J. E.
Quibell, followed by those of M. de Morgan, directed attention to the prehistoric
civilisation of Egypt which was then for the first time made known, there was a general
tendency amongst archaeologists to connect this wholly new phase of Egyptian culture
with Libya rather than to regard it as of native origin or as sprung from southern or
eastern influences. Professor Maspero had identified the huntsmen of the Louvre plaque
as Libyans and expressed his belief that the graves of Nagada were to be attributed
to the same race. Professor Petrie was persuaded by various coincidences of detail, and
especially by the existence amongst the modern Kabyles of a red and white pottery
closely resembling that which was made by his " New Race," to connect the latter
with Libyans represented in our own times by the modern inhabitants of Algeria ; and
shortly afterwards Professor Wiedemann supported a similar view.

Gradually the opinion of Egyptologists and others has crystallised into the belief
that the culture of the prehistoric Egyptians was Libyan in origin, and even that the
race to which it belonged was a Libyan race. It was in the hope of acquiring such
evidence as should enable the question to be solved, whether in accordance with, or in
contradiction to, this current theory, that the authors in the spring of 1900 made an
expedition through various parts of Algeria. The results of their study are given in the
present volume, which aims at once at setting forth material which may be of interest
to the general anthropologist, and at bringing this material to bear upon the special
question of the origins of the prehistoric peoples of Egypt.

CHAPTER II

General Remarks on the Berbers

character religion dress language

The most casual observer cannot fail to be struck with the extraordinary difference The Berber char-
between the Berber and the Arab. Not only are they unlike in features, in colouring
and in language, in gait and in demeanour, but the characters of the two races are
diametrically opposed to one another. The Berber gives the impression of being, as he
is, the descendant of men who have lived in a sturdy independence, self-governing and
self-reliant ; the Arab is the degenerate offspring of a race which only from its history
and past records can claim any title to respect. Cringing, venal, avaricious, dishonest,
the Arab combines all the faults of a vicious nature with those which a degraded
religion inculcates or encourages. The Berber, on the other hand, is straightforward
and honest, by no means averse to money-making, but not unscrupulous in the methods
which he employs to this end, intelligent in a degree to which the ordinary Arab never
approaches, and trustworthy as no Arab ever can be. A Berber chief possesses in reality
the qualities which romancers attach to the Arab, genuine courtesy and hospitality, and a
self-restrained and manly dignity. The dress he wears and the religion he professes
are the only points in which, even externally, he resembles the descendants of the
Prophet and of his race.

The Berbers, as has been remarked, are Mohammedans. The Arab conquests of Religion.
the seventh century, though they have left few other permanent traces upon the
inhabitants of Kabylia and of the Aures mountains, succeeded in converting the entire
population to Mohammedanism ; each village has its mosque and its saint's tomb, and
in many there is a Hajji who has made the sacred pilgrimage. The martial and
religious fervour of the first invaders seems to have carried everything before it.
There was no ebb of the tide that swept over North Africa, it was only its encroachment

8 LIBYAN NOTES

upon Europe that was eventually driven back. That Islam should have retained its
hold upon the lowland districts which were colonised and garrisoned by the invading
race, is in no way remarkable ; but it is certainly somewhat curious that the moun-
taineers, who in other respects preserved their individuality in so marked a degree, not
only accepted but remained faithful to the newly introduced religion. It suggests at
least that whatever preceded it cannot have been very deeply rooted in the hearts of the
people. But what was it that Islamism supplanted ? was it Christianity or some earlier
cult ? It is not to be assumed without evidence, as seems often to be supposed, that the
Kabyles and Chawia were ever Christians.* The historical probabilities are not much
more in favour of such a view than they are opposed to it. Though Kabylia early
came within the territory of a Roman province yet the Romans left it very much to
itself, if we may judge from the fact that no vestige of settlements made by them is to
be seen in the mountain parts of this region, t The Aures, it is true, came into close
contact with Roman power, for, owing to the turbulent character of the inhabitants,
it was necessary to establish garrisons in the very heart of their country ; but even so
analogy does not support the view that garrisons are effective proselytising agencies.
The suggestion that the crosses tattooed by Kabyle women on their faces are a
reminiscence of past Christianity, is merely puerile. In the first place though the cross
is fairly common amongst the Chawia it is by no means the most ordinary tattoo mark
amongst the Kabyles ; and in the second place, it is ( — or it ought to be) matter of
common knowledge that the cross is neither originally nor exclusively a Christian
emblem. As a matter of fact it is one of the decorations of the robe of a Libyan
portrayed on the Egyptian monuments. The only substantial ground for affirming it
to be probable that the Berbers of the mountains were ever Christianised, is to be found
in the fact that the mutual persecutions instituted by the various fanatical sections of the
African church, drove many of its members into the mountains, where they may very
possibly have preached their faith.

In any case it is not probable that Christianity, even if it ever obtained any footing
at all in the country, gained any considerable hold upon the people. It is possible,
however, that it influenced them just so far as to shake preceding beliefs, and that it thus
left half-hearted converts who would oppose no strong prejudices to the creed of Islam.

* It is clear from Procopius, Hist. Vand. bk. i., that at least the Berbers of Tripoli were never Christianised. He
makes frequent mention of the Aurasii Mauri {i.e. Chawia) without the slightest suggestion of their being Christians,
f We do not include in this statement great lowland valleys like that of the Sebaou.

PLATE I.

IN THE AURES.

A KAID IN FULL DRESS.

A chawIa woman in full dress.

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE BERBERS 9

What was the religion of the ancient Libyans it is not easy to say. The
Nasamones, according to Herodotus, were given up to ancestor-worship ; the Machlyes
celebrated a yearly festival to a goddess whom he identifies with Athena, and who was
said to be daughter of " Poseidon " and^ of Lake Tritonis. Those who lived in the
neighbourhood of the lake again sacrificed chiefly to "Athena," and next to her
venerated " Triton " and " Poseidon." The nomad Libyans sacrificed only to the sun
and moon, which were, says Herodotus, universally worshipped by all the Libyans.*
Diodorus gives an account of the religion of the Atlantioi which is too much vitiated by
analogies and identifications with Greek divinities to be very valuable. Ouranos,
Helios, Selene, and Dionysus figure prominently in his mythology ; from which and
from other indications it seems probable that some not very advanced form of nature
worship, in which the heavenly bodies found a chief place, was the native religion
of these tribes.

The dress worn by the Kabyles and Chawia (the two Berber races with whom this Dress.
volume deals) is identical with that ot the Arabs of Algeria. The ordinary costume of
the men is a cotton or woollen under-garment, over which are thrown several thicknesses
of what are really neither more nor less than woollen blankets, though when they are
sewn together at the sides, and have a capucin hood attached, they are dignified by the
name of burnouses. The dress of a rich man is of course more elaborate, though of
the same style. A Kaid of the Chawia in his full gala dress is shown in our Plate L
His exterior garment was a red burnous with a green fringe at the neck ; then came a
white burnous with capucin hood and a muslin-gauze scarf {hdik) ; after this a loose
white tunic with slate edgings {gandard) ; then a blue-sleeved waistcoat trimmed with
black (makyas) and two lavender waistcoats {labeddd) edged with embroidery of a
yellow -white tint. A girdle {lahizaani) of a sort of plaid pattern, a turban [shash-
tabdni) about his head, and a rosary round his neck, completed the costume. On his
feet he wore boots of red leather, besides a pair of large black shoes, t

The bright - coloured outer burnous worn with the full dress gives a very
picturesque effect ; it is commonly red, sometimes claret-coloured or lavender.

* Cf. Leo Africanus, bk. i. " The ancient Africans were much addicted to idolatrie, even as certain of the Persians
are at this day, some of whom worship the sun and others the fire for their gods. . . . Those Africans which inhabited
Libya and Numidia would each of them worship some certaine planet, unto whom likewise they offered sacrifices and
praiers " (Pory's version). Leo is very trustworthy, but it may be doubted whether, writing as he did early in the
sixteenth century, he possessed any more information than is now available.

t Several kinds of shoes are in use. The common people wear sandals with soles of plaited grass.

lo LIBYAN NOTES

The ordinary dress of the women is simple in the extreme — a single tunic of coarse
material and dingy colour tied up at the waist with a girdle and with holes for the arms
to pass through. Poor as their clothes are, however, these women at all times wear a
profusion of silver. Heavy bracelets on the wrists, a necklace with innumerable little
trinkets attached, large breast-pins of a design recalling similar Celtic ornaments, wide
bands of silver on the ankles, and a miniature cuirass of silver and coral at the throat ;
such are the ordinary wear of the humblest drudges in the fields. On festive
occasions a finer garment is put on, a handsome head-dress, and still more silver
work (see Plate I.).

The women wear all the amulets common amongst the Arab Mohammedans.
It was difficult to discover whether they had any others not imported by the latter.
One, however, a porcupine's foot set in silver, worn by women as a charm during
pregnancy, does not, so far as our knowledge goes, correspond to any Arab type.
Language. The Berber language has proved singularly intractable to the philologists. Up to

the present none of them seem to have improved upon the verdict of Professor Francis
Newman, who declared as long ago as 1836 that "the original material of the Berber
language is not Shemitic," though remarking that in structure there were many points
of resemblance to the " Shemitic " type. This eminent philologist further suggested
the possibility that the two languages were derived from a common source and even
considered that in some cases the Berber had preserved the older form. Again, of the
vocabulary he says : " Although a certain number of the native roots have a more or less
distinct relation to Arabic, Hebrew, or perhaps the Ethiopian languages, there is no
question that the great mass of the words is thoroughly peculiar." *

M. Olivier, writing in the Bulletin de V Academie d^Hippone (No. 5) has attempted
to show an affinity between Berber and Indo-European roots. But his examples are
far from being convincing, and linguistic science has now advanced beyond the stage
of supposing that more or less doubtful resemblances of vocabulary are sufficient to
establish relationship between languages of which the structural forms are not identical.
The best verdict on such attempts is expressed in Voltaire's saying, which M. Olivier
himself quotes, to the effect that the word "Ionian" can be derived from "Japet"
by merely changing the " Ja " into " lo " and the " Pet " into " Nian."

With regard to the question of structural similarities between Berber and Semitic

* Cf. E. Renan, who speaks of Berber as " une langue a part, profondement distincte des langues semitiques."

Revue des Deux Mondes, for September I, 1873.

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE BERBERS ii

it does not seem, on looking through a Berber dictionary, as if the tri-consonantal root
characteristic of Arabic and other Semitic languages was invariably to be traced in
Berber. It is not that the roots are too short, which might be explained by the
dropping out of a weak consonant, but that they are too long, possessing too many
consonants. At the same time it must be allowed that this may be a delusive
appearance due to imperfect analysis of the variations of derivative stems — the pre-
fixing of the s to form a factitive stem is apt to mislead in this way — but the following
examples are difficult to explain as tri-consonantal roots : —

Selgloudh

to stammer

Rejdel

to be lame

^louqel

to shake

Endjer

to carpenter

Zemin

to force

Selbedhech

to twitter

Semejeguer

to grimace *

It must, however, be conceded that if a certain number of verbs seem rebellious
to the tri-consonantal scheme, yet undoubtedly very many conform to it. There is
further a large number upon which it is difficult to pronounce with certainty in this
respect, owing to the fact that transliterations from the oral language cannot be
implicitly trusted to give the correct consonantal values ; and the Berber dialects have
never been used for literary purposes.

A few elementary remarks t on the grammar may be of interest.

In true Berber words there is no article ; the prefixing of el or the variations of el
is an invariable sign that the word is borrowed from Arabic. It should be noticed,
however, that all feminine substantives begin with th and end with th or /.
Masculine substantives commonly begin with a or /.

There are two genders only, masculine and feminine. Plurals of the regular class
are formed as follows : —

In masculine substantives the initial a is changed into / and the termination en
is added, thus —

Jgchich, child, plur. Iqchichen

Adhar^ foot, plur, Idharen

Similarly the plural of feminine nouns is formed by changing the a which follows
the initial th into /, and by changing the final th into in.

Examples — thakthabth (book), thikthabin J
thafounasth (cow), thifounasin

' From the Dictionnaire Franfais-Kabyk of P^re Olivier.

t Based on Une Premiere Ann'ee de Langue Kabyle, par Si. A. Said.

X Evidently a Kabylised form of the Arabic word Kitab.

LIBYAN NOTES

The same rules hold for masculine and feminine adjectives.
Personal pronouns may be divided into two classes —

(a) Those which are attached as suffixes to nouns, prepositions, and verbs ;
{&) Those which stand isolated as subjects of verbs. Under (a) fall —

1st pers. sing. masc. and fern, iou "of me" akhkham-iou (my house)

2nd pers. masc. ik "of thee" thikthabin-ik {thy hooks)

2nd pers. fem. /)72"ofthee" laqlam-im (thy pen)

3rd pers. masc. and fem. is " of him " " of her " ikhef-is (his, her, head)

The plural forms of these are —

1st masc.
1st fem.

ennar
entar

2nd masc. ennouen

2nd fem.

{ennouent
enkount
3rd masc. ensen

3rd fem. ensent

}

rouri

N.B. — When attached to prepositions these undergo slight variations. Examples : — Rour-i, " I have," and oulach-
:, " I have not,'' but Rour-sen and Rour-sent (dropping the iirst syllable of the pronoun) for " they have."

Further, there are some supplementary and modified forms used when these pro-
nouns are attached as direct or indirect objects of verbs, thus : —
When used as direct objects the pronouns are —

1st smg.

2nd sing. masc.

'^ \

2nd sing. fem.

ikem J

3rd sing. masc.

ith \
its )

3rd sing. fem.

1st plur.

2nd plur

masc.

ikoun 'y
ikount J

2nd plur.

fem.

3rd plur.
3rd plur.

masc.
fem.

ithen |
ithent j

Example — Tououeth-ith^ " he struck him."

When used as indirect objects of verbs the pronouns are —

1st plur.
2nd plur. masc.
2nd plur. fem.
3rd plur. masc.
3rd plur. fem.

Example — Izen%-asen, " He sold to you men."

1st smg.

2nd sing. masc.

ak 1
am )

2nd sing. fem.

3rd sing.

aouen
aouent
asen ^
asent )

Under class {b) of the personal pronouns come —

Nek or Nekini
Ketch or Ketchini
Kem or Kemini
Netsa
Netsath

thou

thou (fem.)
he
she

Noukni

Kounoui

Kounemthi

Nouthni

Nouthenti

you

you (fem.)
they
they (fem.)

Modern Berber, like modern Arabic, has only two tenses in use, a Past and a
Future.

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE BERBERS 13

The prefixes and suffixes of the past tense are —

1st sing.

—

and sing.

edh

3rd sing. masc.

—

3rd sing. fem.

—

l}tuoues-er I walked

Th-tlmous-edh thou walkedst

I-Hououes he walked

Th-Hououes she walked

1st plur.

n —

2nd plur. masc

th em

2nd plur. fem.

th emth

3rd plur. masc.

— en

3rd plur. fem.

— ent

•, to walk, is declined

IS follows :

N-ffououes

we walked

Th-Houous-em

you walked

Th-flouous-emth

you (fem.) walked

liouous-en

they walked

tfouous-ent

they (fem.) walked

The future tense is formed (quite differently from the Arabic) by prefixing the
syllable Ad to all the persons of the past tense. The letter d of this prefix contracts
with the prefixes of the 2nd and 3rd (fem.) persons sing, and of the ist and 2nd persons
plural. Thus the future of the same verb Hououes is declined as follows : —

Ad-Ifmouei-er I shall walk

Ats-I}mous-edh thou wilt walk

Ad-i- Hououes he will walk

Ats-Hououes she will walk

Ann-Hououes we shall walk

Ats-Houous-em you will walk

Ats-Houous-emth you (fem.) will walk

Ad-Homus-en they will walk

Ad-Houous-ent they (fem.) will walk

^ote. — H is the Arabic --, Z) is the Arabic i.

C •
The passives of verbs are formed by prefixing tsou or tsoua to the root, as —

Kemmel to finish, Tsou-kemmel to be finished

Ef^er to hide, Tsouaffer to be hidden

Factitives are formed by prefixing j- to the root, as —

Ers to descend, S-ers to make to descend

Ekker to rise, S-ekker to make to rise

Reciprocals are formed by prefixing m or mi to the root, as —

Zer to see, M-Zer to see one another.

Very peculiar and characteristic of the language is the use of a frequentative {forme
d* habitude), employed to express all continuous, repeated, or present action. The
frequentative is formed by a modification of the root which may be of several kinds ;
the commonest forms are the addition of Ts or Th to the stem ; as Arou, to write, of
which the frequentative is Ts-Arou ; and the doubling of the central consonant of the
root, as in —

Emger to reap, Frequentative Megger

Ekhdem to work. Frequentative Kheddem

14 LIBYAN NOTES

Berber is spoken in its full vigour in Kabylia and is the native language of
the Aures, but Arabic is so commonly used for many purposes that it is clearly
supplanting Berber amongst the Chawia. Often we found it quite difficult to get
the genuine Chawia word for an object, it was the Arabic word which came first to
the lips. Even in Kabylia the language is terribly vitiated by the introduction of
foreign words — French, Italian, Spanish, and above all, Arabic. Possibly the future
language of Algeria is destined to be some very evil-sounding compound of three or
four European languages with an admixture of Berber words, the whole being super-
imposed upon a half-understood Arabic grammar.

For the moment, however, the conditions are not unfavourable for the study of
the Berber dialects. Missionaries and teachers are writing grammars and dictionaries
which provide the student with a large amount of material not hitherto available.

CHAPTER III

THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF A BERBER PEOPLE

The organisation of Berber society exhibits in a perfect and highly developed form the General nature

- . , . of the society.

type of the village community. Wherever foreign influences have not intruded the
same essential features are reproduced. An inborn love of independence, an instinct of
the value of individuals joined to the conviction that individuals prosper only when
united by bonds of sympathy and mutual assistance, have originated an infinite number
of small democratic communities va. which the will of the people is the sole governing
authority ; and the small number of officials and administrators whom it is necessary to
invest with executive powers, are in reality, and not merely in name, the instruments of
the people's will. The development and details of this municipal life which is charac-
teristic of all the Berber races,* may be studied most readily as it existed among the
Kabyles, who preserved it intact down to the time of the French conquest, and who
still govern themselves in accordance with their time-honoured institutions save only for
such modifications as the sovereignty of an European power renders indispensable.

The account that is given in this chapter of the social and political organisation of
the Kabyles is entirely based upon the admirable work of General Hanoteau and M.
Letourneux,t whose experience as administrators gives a value to their treatise which
the observations of passing travellers cannot hope to rival.

The Village is the administrative unit amongst the Kabyles. Every little Thaddart,
composed only of some few hundred inhabitants, is a veritable republic in itself hardly
less independent than San Marino, making its own laws, naming its own heads, and

* The Touaregs are an exception. They live under a monarchical regime, which alone would suffice, as H. and L.
remark, to show that they are not living the normal Berber life. They have been forced by the peculiar circumstances
of their existence to adopt a form of government alien to their natural inclination.

t La Kabylie et les Coutumes Kabyles, Paris (Challamel), 1893, in 3 vols. It is a mine of information which especi-
ally no student of Sociology and Comparative Law can afford to neglect.

1 6 LIBYAN NOTES

carrying on its own government. Two or more villages are usually connected by
administrative ties* to form a tribe {Arsh), and the union of several such tribes consti-
tutes a Confederation (Thakebilt). Except in very exceptional cases, such as invasion by
a foreign power or a great war of aggression, no more comprehensive confederation than
this is ever formed.f

The Tribe. The THbc [ArsJi) does not ordinarily interfere in the local government of its

villages, to which the most complete autonomy is allowed. It has, however, certain of
the duties of a central administration to perform, the most important of which are the
determination of questions of peace and war, the making of roads, and the management
of such tribe-property as markets, mosques, tombs of saints, and educational establish-
ments, with the levying of the taxes necessary for these purposes. Further, the tribe
acts as arbiter in disputes between villages and as ultimate referee in regard to questions
which the inhabitants of any of its villages fail to decide amongst themselves.

A general assembly of the tribe is practically unknown. Except in cases of such
extraordinary importance {e.g. a holy war against the infidel) as to demand the presence
of the entire people, the affairs of the tribe are managed by a deputation of the chief
men from each of the various villages which compose it. These delegates do not hold
a permanent office, so that there is no danger of the development of oligarchies ; and
there is no lihiit other than convenience to the number of delegates which a village
may send, for it is a striking characteristic of the Kabyles that democratic as they are
they never decide questions by the tyranny of mere majorities.

The Confedera- The Confederation {Thakebili)^ is a union of tribes on a principle analogous to that

which determines the union of villages. In the Thakebilt the tribes occupy the position
which in the Arsh was held by the villages, but the bond is looser in this than it was
in the lower federative grade. The Confederation never interferes in the affairs of its
tribes unless it is directly appealed to, or unless the most vital interests imperatively
demand that it should do so.

In time of war only, a head is appointed for each of the tribes and for the
Confederation. These are called respectively the Amin-el-Arsh and the Amin-en-
Thakebilt.

* Not common ancestry either real or reputed. The Kabyle tribe is not based on kinship.

t We may perhaps conceive of the Libyan invasions of Egypt in the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties as having
been undertaken by a vast union of the various confederations such as even now a sacred war would evoke.

I It is possibly significant that whereas the word for village {Thaddart) is Berber, the words for tribe and Con-
federation {Arsh) {Thakebilt) ate Arabic.

tion.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE BERBERS 17

Before dealing with the constitution of the Thaddart it is necessary to refer to an The Fraternity.
organisation which disturbs the self-centred isolation of the village and brings it into
contact with its neighbours. This is the Sof, a term which may be rendered " Fra-
ternity." It is a league of individuals who covenant to render mutual aid to one
another in all cases of necessity. " Assist your own in right or in wrong " is the native
adage which has been adopted by such associations. Every village is divided into two
opposed Sofs, and as these are seldom equally matched in respect of numbers or of
strength it is common for them to ally themselves with similar Fraternities in neighbour-
ing villages, until the league may have ramifications extending through entire districts
and may even embrace tribes which are not included within the same Confederation.
Gradually, however, the various tribes have tended to form groups, and it is only those
which are included within a group of this kind that enter into reciprocal relations with
one another.

Within the walls of the village the members of a Sof are united by the closest of
bonds. The honour and advantage of the Sof rank paramount above all personal
interests ; and even those ties of kinship which knit the members of a Kabyle family so
firmly to one another, are violated if the claims of the Fraternity demand such sacrifice.
If a man has a quarrel with another and the Sof decides to espouse his cause, he may
feel safe alike from the vengeance of individuals and from the justice of the law ; his
fellow-members will support him with every resource from perjury to murder. Yet,
devoted as he is to his fraternity so long as he remains a member of it, the Kabyle
thinks little of transferring his allegiance. His adherence is dictated purely by self-
interest, and once convinced that his Sof is no longer affording him the advantages
which he expected from it, he will at once desert it in favour of another.

With the extension of its range beyond the village the cohesion of the Fraternity
is to some extent weakened. Members of a Sof will, for instance, send armed con-
tingents to support their fellow-members of another village in time of civil war, but
unless the quarrel has a more than merely local interest they will expect to be paid at
a suitable money-rate for their assistance. On the other hand, there is no limit to the
liberality which fellow-members display in matters other than the bearing of arms.
They will freely supply money and provisions to their partisans in another village, and
should the fortune of war drive the latter from their homes, they will of their own
accord turn out in festal procession to bid them welcome, and will receive them with
cordial and unstinting hospitality.

1 8 LIBYAN NOTES

The funds of the Sof are supported by subscriptions which it raises from its
members, and the administration of them is entrusted to the heads of the organisation,
who are not even expected to give account of sums disbursed on secret services, but only
of such payments as can be fearlessly admitted and discussed without reserve. The
heads of the Sof are called Irfaouen-n-es-Sof.^ They are naturally persons of great
importance, generally members of powerful families, and always men of sufficient private
wealth to be able to meet the various calls which may be made upon them and to
subscribe largely to the funds of the Fraternity.

The Village

TheDjemSa. jhe Djemda. — The keystone of the village polity is the Djemaa, the general

assembly of the citizens, of which every adult man is a member. Its sittings are
held once a week in the open air in a place reserved for the purpose. In rainy
weather or great heat it assembles either in the mosque or in a roofed passage
furnished with stone benches (Plate VII. 2) to which also the name Djemaa is
given. The president is the Amin, who, after the reading of the preliminary text
of the Koran, declares the meeting opened, explains the purpose for which it has
been summoned, and invites the opinion of the members. Theoretically any member
may speak, but in practice it is only the old men and the heads of families, the
temman, and such others as are especially influential and respected, that exercise
the right. It is this inner committee of the assembly which forms the effective
government of the village.

The assembly remains seated throughout and the orators speak without rising
from their places. Debates are orderly and quiet ; when they are concluded the
first verse of the Koran is again read and the Amin dismisses the meeting. Decisions
are never taken by a majority of votes ; and for matters of importance unanimity
is required. In accordance with Kabyle custom the feeblest minority is respected ;
and an additional reason for this practice is supplied by the remembrance that the
dissentients, though few in number, may have the support of a powerful Sof If
the assembly fails to arrive at an agreement the discussion is adjourned, to be
revived at a later date, often to be ultimately abandoned. If it is necessary to
arrive at a prompt decision reference may be made to the chief men of the tribe,

* Note that the word Sof is also Arabic, not Berber.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE BERBERS 19

to the Djemaa of another village, or to some individual arbiter belonging to their
own or another village in whom both sides repose confidence.* From the decision
of such referees there is no appeal.

The powers of the Djemaa extend over every matter great or small which
concerns the welfare of the village. It has the right to interfere even in the
minutest details of private life. The exercise of judicial authority both in civil
and in criminal cases belongs to the Djemaa ; t and it is this body which makes
and repeals laws, which decides on questions of peace and war, levies taxes and
administrates the public property. Nothing escapes its control ; its functions are
as various as the needs of the community.

The Amin,X who is called in some parts the Amekkeran § (chief) or the The Amin.
Ainrdr% (old man), is the executive head deputed by the Djemaa to carry out its
decisions and to superintend the details of government. In principle any man may
be Amin of his own village, but practical necessities have curtailed the right, so
that the Amin is always chosen from one of the influential families and is one
who can rely upon a Sof strong enough to uphold his authority ; he must further
possess sufficient private wealth to adequately support his position. He is not
elected by popular sufirage, but is chosen by the influential persons of the village
in consultation with the heads of families. These submit their choice to the
Djemaa, which, as its guiding members are the same as those who have already
expressed their approval by agreeing to the nomination, commonly ratifies the
appointment, though it sometimes exercises its right of rejection. In such an
eventuality recourse is had to arbitration, as in the other cases described where
the Djemaa failed to agree upon any matter of importance.

The Amin is properly speaking simply the agent of the popular assembly. He
has no independence and no initiative, except in small matters relating to the
maintenance of order. Apart from these he can take no action without the consent of
the Djemaa. At the weekly sittings he acts as president, and this is one of his most
important duties. Between the recurrence of the sittings he is occupied with preparing
the subjects which are to be brought forward for discussion, receiving reports, hearing

* Leo Africanus has a delightful account of how he was detained for a week to act as judge in a Berber
village, and at the end received nothing but large presents in kind ; which, being awkward to carry, he left to his
host as a reward for his entertainment.

t Under French rule the administration of penal law has been taken away from the Djemaa.
. \ Arabic word. § Berber words.

20 LIBYAN NOTES

complaints, and holding inquiries. He is steward to the Assembly for the adminis-
tration of public property ; and if buildings or repairs are required it is he who
conducts the preliminary investigations, and having formed his opinion brings a
report before the Assembly, when he receives its authority for expending the necessary
sums and for requisitioning whatever amount of free labour is required. The
management of the whole public finance, with the exception of the revenues of the
mosque, is in his hands ; and he is responsible for the organisation of that communal
hospitality which is so characteristic a feature in Kabyle life.

As the Amin constitutes the sole executive of the village state his duties are
hardly less multifarious or comprehensive than those of the Djemaa itself.* A
good Amin merits the title that he is often given of" shepherd of the village."
The Tamen. The Temmatj t (singular Tamen) are the lieutenants of the Amin whom he appoints

to supervise the different quarters of the village. The Tamen is responsible for
giving information to the Amin of all that passes in the district over which he is
placed. He has no power of his own, and may not inflict punishments ; he is merely
the eye of the Amin.

The Tamen, though he has no direct powers, is a person of importance. As the
middleman between the Amin and the Kharouba (or quarter of the village) he is
greatly respected. He has the duty of levying certain of the taxes within his
Kharouba ; and in general he performs the countless little good offices which in
our own country are discharged by the county-court judge or magistrate of the peace,
and which enable the machinery of government to work without friction by the
judicious smoothing away of petty obstacles.
Organisation of So far we havc dealt it may be said with the " State " ; we have now to deal with

religion.

the " Church " in the village community. Each village possesses one or more mosques,
which are generally unpretentious buildings resembling enlarged houses (see Plate IX. 5) .
They are sometimes, but by no means always, adorned with a minaret. The mosque
generally possesses a certain amount of private property, which is administered by the
Djemaa through the medium of a special officer, who is called the Oukil of the mosque.
He is always a person of some wealth and consideration, but he is strictly the servant of
the Djemaa and has no initiative of his own.

* Under French rule the position of the Amin has lost something of its importance. His tenure of office is
now confined to a year ; and, at any rate in some cases that we observed, he appeared to be subordinated to a Kaid,
who was not originally a member of the village, but appointed by the French Government in its own interest.

t Arab word.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE BERBERS 21

The Imdm^ or village marabout, is responsible for the religious life of the com-
munity. He gives the morning and evening call to prayer, recites the daily offices, and
presides over all religious functions. It is he too who instructs the young ; and if there
are enough children of marabouts in the village to make it worth while, he is placed
at the head of a regular school of primary instruction. The Imam is ordinarily
appointed by the Djemaa, which he further serves as secretary ; but if the village
contains many marabouts he is often appointed by them, and there are even cases in
which his office has become hereditary. The Imam is paid a salary by the village, and
claims also to receive presents in kind (wheat, figs, oil, etc.) from all who can affiDrd to
give them.

The Marabouts do not form an essential part of the village life. There are some Marabouts.
villages which contain only one or two isolated families, others (termed Zaou'ia) which
are inhabited solely by marabouts. Their name is derived from the Arabic word which
means to " bind," " tie." Theoretically therefore they are those who are " bound " to a
religious life.* The dignity of marabout being hereditary, there has grown up a regular
religious caste which lives a distinct and peculiar life in the midst of the Kabyle com-
munities. The members of the caste enjoy peculiar privileges ; they are usually exempt
from the duty of bearing arms or of contributing to the chief taxes. They are treated
with great respect, are consulted in all important affairs, and referred to as arbitrators
not only in the petty differences between family and family, but even in those serious
quarrels which would lead to inter-tribal war. They have a monopoly of the education
of the young, though there are many amongst them who are wholly illiterate.f No
man who was not born a marabout can become one in his own lifetime ; but a man of
learning and piety may be canonised after his death, and his children will then be
marabouts. The members of this religious caste assert that they are of foreign origin,
but it is evident that this claim is made only in order to establish a fictitious superiority
over the native Kabyles. For a devout Mohammedan it is of course an advantage if he
can represent himself as allied by blood to the kin of the prophet. Hanoteau and
Letourneux examined the genealogies of various marabout families ; with the result that
while one was found to be descended from an Arab dervish, another was descended from
a Turk, a third and fourth from a negro slave, and several from full-blooded Kabyles.

* The whole institution of marabouts is clearly of Arab origin. They play, however, so important a part in the life
of the modern Berbers that it is necessary to give some account of them.

t Primary education is given by the Imam of a village ; for secondary education there is the Mamera or college often
placed near a Zaoui'a. Teaching consists, as usual amongst Arabs, in the imparting of thousands of barren formulae.

22 LIBYAN NOTES

Jnity of village Apart from its political organisation the most remarkable feature in the life of the

village is the solidarity of its members. Even the unit is not the individual but the
family. So close indeed is the tie that unites the family that it is considered as a single
person ; its members are each liable indiscriminately for crimes committed by any one
of them. Frequently the property of a family is left undivided and its revenues enjoyed
by all in common, the administrator being the oldest man in the family if he is
possessed of sufficient ability for the task. In such a case all the members work for the
common interest, but each retains his own individual liberty and never abandons his
hereditary rights ; it is a voluntary association which can be dissolved at will, a striking
instance of community which is not communistic. Associations of all kinds are natural
to the Kabyle character ; even members of different families will combine to put the
profits of their property into a common stock, while the property itself remains in the
hands of its owners ; labour is supplied by all the members, and property acquired
during its existence belongs to the association.

Even when not pushed to the extent of community of enjoyment the idea of the
duty of mutual assistance is never absent. A traveller who meets one of his fellow-
villagers in distress away from home is bound to aid him at whatever trouble or risk to
himself A man who wishes to build a house can claim the assistance of the village,
which is given under an organised system of contribution. The burdens of field-work
and of harvesting do not fall solely upon the owner of the land ; he appeals to the
neighbours of his quarter or of the village in general, who come in such numbers as are
required, and when the work is finished the farmer and his family are ready in turn to
give their labour to any of their helpers who may need it.

Finally, not only do individuals practise the most liberal charity, but the community
itself makes provision for the poor, sets aside a portion of the public revenues for their
needs, and if necessary levies a special tax for their support.

PLATE II.

IN THE AURES.

1. A TYPICAL VILLAGE— EL ARBAA,

2. THE SYSTEM OF TERRACE-CULTIVATIOM- MENAA.

3. STONES PILED ON A FIELD— WED ABDI.

■1. SKULL OF A MULE HUNG ON THE FRUIT TREES WED TAGA.

jet.^jB.2-^ /i *»^-v ^.Si:

5. WOMEN WASHING CLOTHES AND WOOL FOR CARDING— NEAR OMM EL ASHERA.

6. TOMB OF A MARABOUT. WITH OFFERINGS— MENAA.

CHAPTER IV

GOVERNMENT OF THE AUR|;S CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY THE VILLAGES HOUSES,

EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR PHYSICAL TYPE OF THE PEOPLE

The Chawia (pronounced "Sharweea") inhabit the Aures mountains, a small tract Government of

of country lying just to the south of Batna and east of El Kantara. The central ^^^ ^"'^''

government of the district is vested in an administrateur, whose present quarters

are at Lambessa, the little French village that has sprung up on the site of the

old Roman colony of which it still bears the name. The office is of course held

by a Frenchman, who is almost in the position of a petty governor set over this

isolated branch of the great Berber family. With him rests the determination of

all important matters, and he exercises a general control over the whole organisation.

The natives are allowed to retain to a great extent that local autonomy of which

the essential features were described in the last chapter ; but the administrateur

is very careful to ensure that the various Kaids are not only capable of performing

their executive duties but are trustworthy and loyal adherents of the existing

regime. A staff of gendarmes who make periodical tours of inspection, and a

corps of cavaliers some one of whose number is almost incessantly passing through

the villages upon one errand or another, maintain a constant supply of information.

Further, the administrateur makes personal visits at such frequent intervals as suffice

to keep him completely au courant in the affairs of his little state. We were

nowhere more favourably impressed with the efficiency of the government than

in the Aures.

It is from Lambessa that the district is most naturally approached. A steep character of the
ascent leads up from the plain in which the old Roman town is built to the first '^°"'^"^"
limestone ridge, which forms the boundary that has so long fenced off the native
Berbers from foreign invaders. Passing over a col where in the middle of April

24 LIBYAN NOTES

the snow lies still unmelted, the traveller descends again some hundreds of feet to
where a mountain -stream fed from the neighbouring heights flows briskly under
dark-green holm-oaks. Soon he enters the forest where cedars fight for living room
beside the hardier ilex, and then traversing a long hog's back thickly covered with
Aleppo pine, breaks at the end of his first day's journey into the first of the five or
six narrow valleys which constitute the whole of the country inhabited by the
Chawia. It is a barren, bleak country that he enters. The olives that are so
luxuriant in Kabylia cannot grow at such a height ; the rough grey clifi^s are
incapable of cultivation, and yield at most a little scanty pasture, but the vivid
green of the valley bottoms is more striking for the contrast. Orchards and fields,
irrigated from the little stream that has worn itself a narrow channel and left a
strip of fertile alluvium on either bank, appear like bright gardens when seen
from the tops of the rugged hills that enclose them. They recall the brilliant
valleys of Thiiringen, save that the approach to them is so different ; for the descent
from the slopes above leads not through leafy forest, but through a thin scrub of
stunted weather-worn trees.

The scenery in the Aures is generally picturesque, but in no way grand or
imposing. The mountains are not precipitous, and there are none of the sharp
peaks that characterise an Alpine landscape. The impression is rather that of a
steep hilly country than of a truly mountainous region. Here, as in many other
parts of the Algerian Atlas, one is constantly reminded of the tamer regions of the
Welsh or Scottish highlands. The people themselves are not mountaineers ; they
have no liking for the hilltops, but are industrious agriculturists who live in the
valleys and cultivate the land that fringes the streams.
The villages. The villages are characteristically peculiar. Their position and their aspect

bring home to the mind the circumstances under which they were built and the
history of their inhabitants. They are essentially fortress burgs ; not indeed
encircled with rampart or wall, for this primitive folk has never been trained in
military engineering, but so arranged as to be admirably adapted for purposes of
defence. Placed always in the valley, but at some little height above the stream,
they cling to the steep sides of the cliiF (Plate II. i), or are perched on an
isolated mamelon commanded only from distant heights and safe against any weapons
less formidable than modern artillery. Outside the village are sometimes built
watch-towers to overlook the surrounding country.

VILLAGES AND HOUSES IN THE AURES 25

The disposition of the hosues is directed by the same idea of defence that
governs the choice of the site. They are built in irregular terraces one above the
other, each of which forms as it were a fresh wall to confront an attacking, party,
while every tier is dominated by the next behind it. The appearance is very
similar to that of the villages which the Pueblo Indians build to protect themselves
from raiding Apaches. And the Chawia have had frequent occasion to avail
themselves of their strongholds, for quiet and peaceful as they now seem they have
been sturdy fighters in time past.* Before the commencement of the Christian era
they had never been subjugated. The Romans themselves never penetrated into
these valleys till the time of Antoninus Pius, and did not completely hold the
country till a colony was established at Menaa during the reign of Marcus
Aurelius. When the Romans were obliged to relinquish North Africa, the Chawia
recovered in full the independence which they had never more than partially lost ;
and, in spite of a nominal conquest by the Arabs, they have remained almost
unaffected by external influences until the present day. Hence it is that they are
still a people of very primitive ways, who, with the conservatism natural to those
who live in a low state of culture, have preserved their old habits and methods of
life, their old arts and industries, without wishing to improve by foreign innovation
upon what long experience has shown to be sufficient for their simple needs.

This backwardness in development is especially noticeable in the construction of Houses.
their houses. These are built of small irregular stones, which are not in any way
dressed or squared, but, at the most, broken across with a hammer to reduce them
approximately to the required size. Anything in the nature of stone-mason's work
seems to be quite unknown. On one occasion in the Wed Abdi we were astonished
to observe squared blocks in the walls of a house ; but the anomaly explained itself
on closer inspection, when the well-shaped stones proved to be incised with Roman
inscriptions. At the same time it should be remarked that, curious as it seems for
stone -dressing to be unknown in a district where brick is not used and stone is
the sole building material, there is a sufficient reason for the absence of the art in
the fact that it is by no means indispensable. The natural stratification of the rock
(which is apparently a shallow -water limestone) is such as to supply an infinite
quantity of thin slabs, which only need breaking across to the requisite size in

* Cf. Leo Africanus, book v. "I'his exceeding high and populous mountaine is inhabited with most barbarous
people that are wholly addicted unto robberie and spoile " (Pory's version).

LIBYAN NOTES

order to fit them for immediate use. The upper and lower surfaces of such slabs
are comparatively smooth and level, so that without troubling to dress them any
more the builder has ready to hand a material which is very fairly adapted for his
purpose.* A reasonably good house can be built of them if they are carefully
selected and fitted according to size, a process which affords scope for the exercise
of considerable skill ; in fact it was very noticeable how far superior the builder's
work was in some villages to anything that could be seen in others. The interstices
between the stones of the wall are generally filled in with mud, and the wall itself
{afseil) is divided into layers by horizontal courses of wood placed with more or
less regularity at intervals of two or three feet apart (Plate III. 2). These courses
{asumti) may serve to some extent to strengthen the building, but in general they
seem to be intended simply to equalise the level of the laid stones.

The following diagram is intended to show the construction of the house.f

When the wall has

■is been carried to the desired

height, which seldom ex-
ceeds ten feet save in the
few cases where (as at
Menaa and El Baali) there
are two stories, provision
has to be made for the
support of the roof {sgdf).
According to the size of the

-J

o o 3 u n n

SECTION (diagrammatic) TO SHOW THE CONSTRUCTION OF A WALL AND arCa tO bc COVCrcd a largCr

ROOF OF A CHAw/a HOUSE. ,, l /~ -i

or smaller number of columns
{ardr, or aarsa, i in diagram), generally of juniper wood, are set up. These are simply
tree-trunks which are barked and left to be polished by usage ; there would be about
six of them to every two hundred feet of floor space, though the number would
of course vary according to the lengths of timber available for the roof Mortised
to the top of the column is a solid beam about three feet in length (2, musbah).
This crutch-head, as it may be termed, lies longitudinally to the room, and serves as a
resting-place for the ends of the transverse rafters (3, kdntas) ; which being rarely

* In cases where, as at Tagust, another kind of stone is used, the laying of the blocks is less regular,
t 8 in the diagram is the wall, 9 the courses.

VILLAGES AND HOUSES IN THE AURES 27

long enough to span the whole breadth of the house are arranged in groups of
two, three or more, one end resting on the solid wall, the other on the musbah
(see Plate III. i). The kdntas carry the longitudinal rafters (4, taala), which
are generally about two inches in diameter and as closely packed together as
possible. There may be another layer of transverse poles across these, but generally
there is simply a packing of leaves and twigs (5) upon which the mud roof is
firmly beaten down. This terrace roof (6, stah) may have definite drainage channels
or may be simply sloped away towards the side or end ; some such provision there,
always is, in order to carry off the rain. In clearing the roof of snow in winter,
a scraper with a long handle is used ; but we saw nothing like a roller for the
roof, and on the one occasion when it was necessary to render it water-tight, a
man trod down the clay with his feet.

The eaves often have an overhang of eighteen inches, and a layer of beams is
frequently fastened round the edge to prevent the mud being washed from the
roof (10). Further, a coping of heavy stones (7) answers a similar purpose, and
doubtless assists by its weight in keeping down the roof during gales.

Chimneys are generally simply holes in the roof. Sometimes (as at El Arbaa)
an old earthenware pot with the bottom knocked out is inserted into the aperture,
and, projecting a little above the general level, prevents the water seeking escape into
the house beneath. At El Baali a few chimneys were built of stone and could be
closed by a piece of sacking. At Bou Homar a couscous pot was hung by means
of cords in the chimney, and could be hauled up by the people on the roof when
required.

Inside the house the arrangements are primitive. There is generally a bed-
frame covered with rugs and skins, a loom, a quern, a fireplace denoted by three or
four large squarish stones, earthenware vessels, and (as at El Arbaa) huge plaited bins
for corn, which somewhat resemble in shape a swollen amphora. Sometimes the
domestic animals have a house to themselves ; oftener they are relegated to a
corner or end of the common room.

Most houses contain, besides, a raised divan or stone bench, upon which mats
{azharthil) are spread.

In the cafes the chimney-corner is so arranged as to provide a tolerable
draught for the charcoal fire ; and a tambourine and fife are provided for the
amusement of customers.

LIBYAN NOTES

Doors are mounted on swivels at top and bottom, are very heavy, and generally
badly fitted, though sometimes ornamented with shallow circular holes arranged
in no particular pattern or order.

In the walls of the more pretentious Chawia houses various ventilating shafts
have been left. Commonly these holes are triangular in shape and not more than
a foot in greatest diameter. They are mostly arranged in rows, and sometimes, as in
Fig. 2, they are surrounded by inverted triangles ; which when repeated give rise to the

more ornate rose-window shown

4 (XXXJXJXJ

in Fig. I . This form of aperture
is probably borrowed from similar
forms in Arab houses.

3 and 4 are simply the two
elements in the timber course
with which the walls are
strengthened. It is naturally
most convenient to place the
" windows " immediately above
the straight line of the topmost
3 logs ; and this had been done in
TXXJJUCLXXXXJOCO the house from which the dia-

▲ ▲▼▲ A

CHAWfA WINDOWS MENAA AND CHIR.

gram was taken.

The general type of house that prevails is that which is shown in Plate III. 2,
and which has just been described ; but it should be stated that the character of
the building is liable to considerable variation, as it is adapted as far as possible to
the conformation of the ground. Thus according to its position the house may
be little more than an enlarged cave, or it may rest against a cliff side with the
natural rock as a fourth wall, or it may consist of nothing more than a roof placed
over a depression in the soil.

The terms employed by classical writers in speaking of the rude dwellings of
the Libyan tribes imply that they were wattle and mud huts, caves, and tents
rather than substantial if simple stone houses such as the best of those described
above. In the absence therefore of details with regard to the history of the country
during the last thousand years, it must remain a doubtful point whether these houses
are to be regarded as genuine and typical productions of the Berbers. It is quite

IN THE AURES.

PLATE III.

INTERIOR OF CHAWlA HOUSE, SHOWING CONSTRUCTION OF ROOF.

J. INTERIOR OF FLOUR-MILL, SHOWING THE MECHANISM

2. EXTERIOR OF CHAWlA HOUSES, SHOWING CONSTRUCTION.

4. FIRING THE POTTERY, WHICH IS COVERED WITH A HEAP OF FUEI — CHIR.

5. CHAWlA "^QU^kH FASHIONING POTTERY--CHIR.

PHYSICAL TYPE OF THE PEOPLE 29

likely, however, that the circular watch -shelters (see Plate VIIL 5) which occur
both here and in Kabylia may be the direct descendants of the ancient wattle huts.*
On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Aures, whom we know to have been
settled for many centuries in the same district, may very well have evolved a
somewhat improved type of dwelling without having had recourse to any foreign
assistance or suggestion.

The Chawia are, at least in colouring, very good representatives of the white Physical type of
Libyans known to the ancients. All without exception are white-skinned though
much sunburned, and the skin even where it is most exposed burns to the tint
peculiar to white men, and resembles that of the fairer rather than of the
darker races even amongst these. It should be remarked in the present connection
that a noticeable difference in colouring exists between the Algerian natives of all
kinds and the modern Egyptians. Even the Arabs of Algeria are noticeably fairer-
skinned than the average fellah of the Nile valley, a fact which we attributed rather
to intermixture of races than to the colder climate. The Berbers, however, are much
whiter than the Arabs, and have a clearly marked type which makes them easily
distinguishable apart from any indication afforded by manners or language. The
Chawia and the Kabyles are obviously of the same stock, though we have been
careful to keep our observations upon them distinct. In some ways the Chawia are
the more interesting as they are more primitive and unsophisticated ; but in spite of
the different level of culture the two peoples are racially identical.

The Chawia are generally speaking remarkably European in their appearance ;
many might have passed for Irishmen or Scotchmen. The boys in particular when
about the age of fifteen or sixteen would if put into similar dress be almost indis-
tinguishable from English lads of the same age. In seeing a large number of them,
however, it would certainly occur to an observer that the preponderance of dark hair
was in excess of what would be found in most English districts. Fair-haired men,
as blond even as North Germans, are to be seen ; in some villages indeed they are
fairly numerous, but even taking each village by itself there was no instance in
which their numbers seemed to equal those of the dark-haired men, whilst ordinarily
they were in a very small minority. In fact if the Chawia are at all typical
examples we are forced to conclude that too much stress has commonly been laid

* Cf. Rohlfs on the dwellers in the Draa Oasis. " Some of the Berber tribes also have these palm-huts for dwellings "
{Adventures in Morocco, p. 348).

30 LIBYAN NOTES

upon the occurrence of fair-haired individuals amongst the Berbers * ; while on the
other hand it has hardly perhaps been sufficiently noticed that all without exception,
whether their hair and eyes be dark or light, are invariably fair-skinned, much fairer
than a typical Tuscan or Spaniard. The normal combination is black hair and
brown or hazel eyes ; blond hair with blue eyes occurs much more rarely. In
stature the men are of medium height, averaging about 5 feet 7 inches, and in
build they are spare though strong.

The women when quite young are good-looking, but their beauty has been
generally overrated by the travellers who have described them. They come to
maturity very early, are past their prime at twenty, and a very few years later they
are withered hags. As is well known, they do not veil their faces as do the Arab
women ; but it must not be inferred from this that they are allowed any the greater
liberty. They are guarded with the strictest care, forbidden to go near any place
where men resort, and jealously overlooked in all their doings. In physical type
they seem to be the counterparts of the men ; the black hair, which is quite
invariable amongst them, seems at first to be a distinguishing feature, but its unvarying
occurrence is no doubt due to the same practice which obtains among the Kabyle
women, who dye the hair with gall-nut at frequent intervals beginning from early
childhood.

* Thus Shaw, Travels, vol. i. chap. viii. says : " The Kabyles of these mountains of Auress have a quite different
mien and aspect from their neighbours. For their complexions are so far from being swarthy that they are fair and
ruddy; and their hair, which among the other Kabyles is of a dark colour, is with them of a deep yellow." See more
details on this point in chap. xiii. of the present volume.

CHAPTER V

CHAwfA Life and Industries

AGRICULTURE THE PLOUGH MILLS FOOD MANUFACTURE OF CLOTHES SILVER-
WORKING CARPET-MAKING INCISED WORK CARVING

The Staple industry of the inhabitants of the Aures is agriculture. Along the Agriculture.
banks of the stream above which each village is built there is a narrow strip of
cultivable land upon which the utmost care is lavished. As the water cut its
passage deeper and deeper into the valley it left deposits of fertile soil, which have
been ingeniously converted into little fields by building up the natural terraces with
walls of rough stones. The view of Menaa in Plate II. 2 shows this system of
terrace-cultivation at its best. Menaa being a village situated at the junction of two
considerable streams has a large tract of ground under cultivation, but in most cases
there is much less. At El Arbaa the valley is so narrow as to be little more than a
ravine, 80 or 100 yards across at the bottom; and here the fruit-trees grow right
down to the water, and the cornfields are painfully buttressed up against the steep
banks. In this way are grown wheat and barley and many varieties of fruit-trees, of
which the chief are walnuts, figs, pomegranates, and apricots. A simple form of
irrigation is in use, the stream being led off at its highest level, which is generally
at some distance from the village, and conducted through small channels from which
the plots are watered. No artificial means are employed for raising the water, so
that cultivation cannot be carried on above the greatest height which the stream
touches in its course through the valley ; and the amount of land which can be utilised
for the crops depends directly on the steepness of the stream-bed and rapidity of the
fall of the water.

Piles of stones are frequently placed all over a field (Plate II. 3) for some purpose

32 LIBYAN NOTES

which we could not exactly ascertain. Probably, however, the practice is similar to
that which Hanoteau and Letourneux note as existing among the Kabyles,* who
place heaps of stones upon a field to show that it is reserved for hay.

The skull of an animal, generally a mule, is often hung upon the fruit-trees
(Plate 11. 4). The object of this is to prevent the fruits falling, or, as others explained
it in more general terms, simply for good-luck ; similarly a skull is placed among a
group of beehives, and when a house is newly built a skull is placed upon it. The
last of these cases is interesting for its analogies ; the Greeks used to ornament buildings
with ^ovKpdvia ; Professor Flinders Petrie has found the painted heads of oxen which
had apparently been used in a similar way in the graves of a people whom he considered
to be Libyans, at Hou in Upper Egypt ; and finally Mr. J. E. Quibell found the
ox-head represented as an ornament of the house in sculptures of the proto-dynastic
Egyptians at Hierakonpolis.
The plough. For ploughing, oxen of the ordinary dwarf breed found in the country are used,

or sometimes, but less commonly, mules. The plough {rnuharrath) is a simple

CHAWfA PLOUGH BOU ZINA, AURES.

implement, of which the accompanying diagram will give an idea. It has only
three essential parts, viz. the pole, the handle and share, and the connecting ties.
It is almost the same as that which is used by the Kabyles, save only that the latter,
who are in all respects in advance of their Chawla kinsmen, have added a short iron
shoe to the point, which makes it considerably more effective.

The handle ( i , sili) and share are of one piece of wood, the whole measuring about
six feet from the end of the handle to the point of the share. The pole (2, athmun) is
secured to the sili by twin cross-bars (3, thafruth), and by pegs and keys (4 and 6,
thazdiith and bwimzhdn). The keys at 5 are called dderas.

In the end of the pole are a peg (7, thamsikeritfi) and a square hole to which the
yoke and harness are attached. The ploughs do little more than scratch the surface of

* We ourselves noted the practice in Kabylia, but did not find out the reason for it.

CHAWlA LIFE AND INDUSTRIES

the field. They are so light as to be readily carried on a man's shoulder or on the back
of the diminutive donkey of the country. The absence of an iron share must also
detract somewhat from their efficiency.

The Hoe, which is constantly used in field-work, consists of two parts, viz. the
wooden handle [tharzhukht) and the blade, which is about a foot long, and is slipped
into the haft from the lower and smaller end. The blade has a pointed end [izSghzok)
like a pick-axe, and a cutting edge (thamsht), which is in the same longitudinal plane
as the haft.

Querns or handmills of stone are used in the houses, and these were no doubt at Mills.
one time the only means employed for grinding corn,* but watermills {erraha) are not

DIAGRAM OF PART OF A CHAWIA WATER-MILL AT BOU ZINA

uncommon in the Aures.-f- A photograph of the interior of one of these as it was seen
at the village of Bou Zina is shown in Plate III. 3, and the mechanism of such a mill
may be made more intelligible by the subjoined diagram.

The Chawia tap the main stream at a greater or lesser distance above the mill
(which is itself upon the bank), according to the rapidity of the current, and the

* The quern seems to be general throughout North Africa. Cf. Leo Africanus, bk. ii., who says of the Moroccans of
Haha : " It is somewhat strange that so many rivers running through the country they should have such scarcitie of water-
mils : but the reason is because everie household almost have a woodden mill of their own whereat their women usually
grinde with their hands" (Pory's version).

t The type which is described in this section is known elsewhere. Mr. H. Balfour informs us that a very similar
mill is in common use in Bosnia. Cf. a model of the Bosnian mill in the Pitt-Rivers Museum at Oxford.

34 LIBYAN NOTES

amount of power desired. Chutes {Mizab), about a foot in depth and breadth, conduct
a steady stream {Thergia) of water to the mill, their number corresponding to the
number of separate wheels to be driven.

The jet of water from the chute impinges directly upon a turbine wheel {rish),
mounted on a shaft or axle {sdri), and is at once discharged into the main stream.
Both turbine and shaft are of wood, but resemble in other respects the steel machinery^
imported from France for the use of the colonists. Still, though the presence of querns
or hand-mills in the houses of the Chawia seems to indicate for the water-mills a
comparatively modern introduction to the Aures, there is no reason to think that the
natives first learnt the use of turbines from the French.

Within the mill are one or more sets of machinery corresponding to the number
of turbines installed beneath. In the mill observed at Bou Zina there were two, the
smaller of which was standing idle at the time of our visit, thus permitting us to obtain
the photograph reproduced in Plate III. 3. The larger apparatus differed from it only in
point of size, and in the nature of its supports ; for while the beams (2 and 3) of the
former rested on special piers of masonry (i), those of the latter were simply carried by
the walls of the house itself.

Rigidly attached to these cross-beams was a hopper (4, did), open at the top for
the reception of the grain * and pierced at the bottom by a small aperture through
which the contents found their way into a trough (5, Mizah). This trough was held
at about the angle of rest by the double ropes 10 and 11 ; 10 being tightened up
as required by twisting with a small piece of wood (12), 11 serving only to prevent
excessive lateral oscillation.

The rate at which the grain was fed from the trough into the hole in the centre of
the upper grindstone (6, Thastrth) was ingeniously regulated by the simple device
9 [Thazduth). This consisted of a rudely squared piece of wood, one end of which was
firmly attached to the trough (5), the other allowed to rest free on the masonry (i) ;
while through its centre, and secured by a peg at right angles to it, passed another
bottle-shaped block, the heavy end of which, resting on the rough surface of the upper
grindstone and oscillating as it revolved, transmitted its movements to the trough
in which the grain rested. The faster the grindstone turned, the faster rattled the
vibrator (9), and the faster fell the grain from the mouth of the Mizab into the orifice
beneath. As soon as the water supply is cut off at the sluice, the turbine ceases to

* Here mostly barley, thimxinth.

CHAWfA LIFE AND INDUSTRIES 35

actuate the grindstones, the vibrator becomes motionless, and the grain stops automatic-
ally at the angle of rest.

The front of the grindstones is hidden by a board (7), in which is the funnel
(8, Mizab), and through this funnel the flour {em) escapes to the floor, whence it is
periodically removed by the attendant.

To prevent the flour-dust from being blown about and wasted, the top of the
grindstones (all except the orifice for the grain) and the vibrator are further covered in
with pieces of sacking {Asfirg/i).

The meal after being ground is made either into thin flat cakes of bread, which Food.
taste not unlike oatcake, but are too redolent of mutton fat to suit the European palate,
or into seksou, as the Berbers call the dish, better known by its Arab name of couscous.
Seksou is the chief article of food among both Chawia and Kabyles (whose simple
dietary is indeed identical) ; many families hardly ever taste anything else. A guest,
who is, of course, treated with exceptional liberality, will be given first a soup made
very hot with peppers ; then seksou and a fowl, or perhaps a mutton bone with so much
of the meat upon it as has not been cooked away in the process of preparing the
seksou ; and lastly nuts with honey. Honey is fairly plentiful, for the Chawia keep
many bees, in doing which they are following an old Libyan practice, for Herodotus
remarks of the Gyzantes * that, in their country, " a vast deal of honey is made by bees ;
very much more, however, by the skill of men."

The cooking is all done by the women, who use for preparing and serving the food
such pots as are shown in Plate IV. The pots themselves are also made by the women ;
the manufacture of them is described, and their types are discussed in the next chapter.

The villages of the Aures are almost entirely self-supporting ; only a few minor
accessories are imported from outside. The clothes of the inhabitants, mere woollen Manufacture of

r 1 • clothes.

blankets for the most part, are manufactured in their own homes from the wool of their
own sheep. The whole of this work is done by the women. The wool, after it has
been washed, is spun by hand with distaff^ and spindle. The spindle is of the ordinary
simple kind, a piece of stick with a wooden disc at the top, above which is the hook for
catching up the wool ; it is twisted with the right hand, while the distaff is held in
the left. When spun the wool is woven on a very serviceable loom ; which will be
described more in detail in the chapters that treat of the Kabyles, who use precisely the
same (see Plate IX. 3). The blanket when finished is a close-textured warm garment of

* Who be it noted are the immediate neighbours of the Zauekes.

36 LIBYAN NOTES

pure wool, which, when its sides have been sewn together and a hood has been formed,
becomes a burnous. The price of a good white burnous thus made seems to be about
20S. to 30s. in English money.
Silver-work. Thcsc fcw industries may be said to include all that is essential to the life of

the people. Their other occupations rank under the heading of the production of
luxuries. First amongst such occupations must be placed that of the silversmiths,
whose art is of great importance in a country where the women wear their entire
fortunes upon their persons. Only silver is used, never gold.* Coral is commonly
employed, but precious or semi-precious stones are unknown. The silver is obtained
from old coins and is therefore fairly pure ; the coral is imported from the coast
and priced absurdly above its value. The workmanship of the ornaments produced
is by no means bad, though somewhat wanting in finish ; the style is heavy and
barbaric, quite lacking in delicacy or grace. In Plate V. i, 2, 3, 5 are figured
examples which show the chief types in use ; there is little variety among them,
the makers evincing no sort of inventive spirit. Almost every piece is studded
with lumps of coral, and its market value is in proportion to their number and size.
The surface of the silver is generally engraved with some skill ; the origin of the
patterns however it is difficult to trace, as they are evidently much degraded from
the original motives whatever these may have been.
Carpet-making. The manufacture of carpets is one of the most important employments of the

women ; it is here that such sense of artistic decoration as the Chawia possess is
chiefly manifested. Every Kaid, however poor, has at least one magnificent rug or
carpet, which he brings out and lays on the floor to receive any distinguished visitor.
The work is highly elaborate, with patterns of various coloured wools. Some of
the motives are shown in Plate VI. i, 2, 3 ; the lozenges, squares, herring-bones,
lattice and cross-branched lines are very characteristic and bear a close resemblance
to Kabyle designs. The tree -pattern and the camel are especially interesting ; both
are found also in Kabyle pottery, in which however the tree is less clearly delineated
(cf frontispiece. Fig. 2).

The patterns on the carpets shown in our plate were picked out in green bice,
dark -blue, orange -yellow, and white, on a background of dark red. Some of the
colouring matters are imported. The red (/«^), the orange (obtained from pome-

* The Beni Mzab are said by Mme- Jean Pommerol {Among the Women of the Sahara) to use gold. The same writer
states that the Saharan women attribute a talismanic virtue to coral.

CHAWfA LIFE AND INDUSTRIES 37

granate bark?), the yellow (from juniper bark) were apparently of native production ;
the indigo-blue was said to be traded from Tunis.

The incising of patterns is familiar to the Chawia. It is to be seen at its best incised work.
in the snufF-horns which are decorated with various motives, of which the favourite
are the lozenge and the chevron.

Under this head may perhaps be included the tattoo-marks which are to be seen
on every woman and on some of the men. They reproduce the designs found in
other classes of work.

Carving is not carried to any great height of perfection ; the best examples of Wood-carving,
it are to be seen on wooden powder-flasks. The tools which are in use are not
very well suited for fine work ; on one occasion a man was seen scooping out the
bowl of a wooden spoon with an adze which he held by the blade close down to
the point. The spoon was afterwards finished off with a knife.*

* The adze was an interesting tool. It had been made in the village and was of a type familiar among bronze
celts. The head was seven inches long and two inches wide in its broadest part, but the middle was considerably
narrower. It was attached to the crook -shaped wooden haft (fifteen inches long) in the following manner : — Its
under side was hollow for about half its length, the two sides or lips being approximated to each other and turned
slightly back. Into the aperture thus formed was driven the end of the haft which became tightly wedged and
compressed between the top of the adze-head and the contracting lips.

CHAPTER VI

CHAWIA POTTERY

The study of pottery is one to which the archaeologist finds himself bound to ascribe
an importance which the ordinary reader may perhaps consider disproportionate.
But no one who has been compelled to infer from scattered sherds the age of a
cemetery of the very existence of which these sherds are almost the sole external
evidence, no one who has known how a Greek site can be dated by a couple of
square inches of painted vase, or who has been enabled by finding a fragment of
red Samian ware to assign a puzzling mass of stones to its true Roman period, will
underestimate the importance of pottery. From the very fact that they are so
perishable, earthen vessels become the most lasting evidences of antiquity ; for they
are manufactured in such quantities that the fragments at least cannot disappear,
and a site on which little else may be found will always yield relics of pottery.
Again as being constant and familiar household objects pots frequently become the
earliest «iedium for design and ornamentation. Any new idea of form, any new motive
of decoration that an inventive neighbour can supply is employed first of all in the
ceramic art ; and it is generally through its application to pottery that it becomes
familiar to artists in other branches, who then adapt it to the various materials in
which they work.

At the outset, then, of an inquiry into the developments of art and design in
many countries recourse must be had to the pottery, since it is this which at once
furnishes the most abundant material for study and preserves the greatest possible
variety of changes and modifications in design.*

The civilisation of a people may in a great degree be measured by its skill
in ceramics, and the more primitive the people the more is this the case. As the

* This is a general but not a universal rule. It would not apply to southern latitudes ; in New Guinea for example
the small amount of pottery that is made is unornamented, while bamboos, pipes, gourds, and tortoise-shells are elaborately
decorated.

1:6

CHAWIA POTTERY.

Plate IV.

CHAWfA POTTERY 39

arts increase in number and develop in complexity the manufacture of pottery loses
somewhat of its pre-eminence ; but with a people still in its childhood, or with
one whose childhood has prolonged itself into what should be mature life, it is
pottery which marks the level to which culture has attained, which indicates its
origin and which betrays any influence that has been exercised by neighbouring
civilisations.

It is for this reason that a considerable amount of our space is given to the
consideration of the pottery of the Algerian natives as affording the readiest test
of intertribal connections in culture ; while much of the remainder is devoted to
anthropometry, which alone can decide the further question whether such connections
are the outcome of racial affinities or are due merelv to direct or indirect commercial
intercourse.

After what has already been said of the primitive character of the Chawia and
of their low level of development, it is not surprising to find that their pottery is
extremely rude and simple. Like that of the Kabyles it is all hand- made, the
wheel is unknown. But hand -made pottery may attain great perfection of form,
as Egyptian examples show ; and if the Chawia have contented themselves with
the roughest and least beautiful types, the cause of this is their lack of inventive
or esthetic sense and not the limitations of technical skill. For it is with
precisely the same equipment that the Kabyle women succeed in producing a great
variety of curious and even graceful forms, while they have preserved a tradition
of decoration unknown to their cousins in the Aures. Examples of Chawia pottery
are shown in Plate IV. The forms are all of the most primitive order, little
superior to neolithic models, and in several cases identical with these. A bowl
with the simplest of handles and, when it becomes necessary, with a spout for
pouring ; such is the fundamental type. The bowl develops into a cup, the cup
is finished perhaps with a second handle ; this is the highest stage of evolution that
is attained ; the requisites of convenience are satisfied and what need is there to go
further ? These pots are for use not for ornament. They are to serve for the
simplest purposes of cooking, and for holding water or milk or the gravy that is
to be poured over the couscous. It never occurs to their makers to shape them
into graceful curves or to decorate them ; they would be no better but rather the
worse adapted for household purposes, and the poor villager does not care for what

40 LIBYAN NOTES

will not be of use to him in his daily life. A backwoods-man does not drink from
a Chelsea teapot ; a plough-boy does not eat off Derby china.

The Chawia make their pottery at the present day in much the same fashion
as their neolithic ancestors must have made it. Most households manufacture for
themselves, the women being the potters. About once a week a new batch is
produced ; but the makers are more or less intermittently employed in the intervals.
The process of manufacture is very simple. The woman seats herself on the ground
with water and some of the coarse yellowish clay beside her ; she moistens the clay
and kneads it with the palm and edge of her hand, then puts a lump down on a
piece of broken crock which serves as a base. With her thumb she presses a hollow
in the centre of the clay lump and fashions the outside and inside until the form
is complete (Plate III. 5). We saw no implement of any kind being used ; at
most a small piece of stick may sometimes be taken for removing superfluous clay.
The smoothing of the surface is all done with the thumb, and burnishing is
unnecessary for this rough ware. When the desired shape is obtained the pot is
left to dry. Two days are generally allowed for the drying process, and then it
is ready to be baked. The furnace is no more elaborate than the rest of the
equipment. A small ring of stones is made in a free space outside the house,
and the pots are put inside (Plate III. 4). They are then covered over with
fuel, for which anything that comes to hand is used — at Chir the material was
mainly old grass shoes. The fire is lit and the pots left inside for a short time,
perhaps about twenty minutes. Then they are raked out, and while still quite hot
are rubbed over (generally only as far down as the bottom of the rim) with a red
resin called Luk* When this has cooled the process is complete.

With the exception of the example shown in Plate IV. i, there is no sort of
ornamental design used upon any of them. In this particular case the pot has been
coloured with the red resin in the usual way, but panels have been left vacant on the
rim, and these have been filled in before firing with a rude cross-hatched pattern in light
red (apparently ochre). Of the hundreds of Chawia pots which we saw only this
single kind had even any rudimentary design upon it. As a rule the sole departure
from the strict demands of utility which the potters allow themselves, is the
occasional adding of a raised pattern by an extra strip of moulded clay (IV. 8), or
the forming of ridges, bosses, and indentations in the surface. This style of work

* It is apparently raw shellac.

CHAWIA AND KABYLE SILVERWORK.

PLATE V.

CHAWIA AND KABYLE PATTERNS.

PLATE VI.

1. CARPET MADE AT BOU-ZINA IN THE AURES.

2. CARPET MADE AT BOU-ZINA IN THE AURES.

3. CARPET MADE AT BOU-ZINA IN THE AURES.

4. DOOR AT GELAA IN KABYLIA.

CHAWiA POTTERY 41

is common in the earliest Italian pottery. Indeed, the general resemblance of the
Chawia types to those found in prehistoric settlements in Italy is very remarkable.
Thus the peculiar handle seen in IV. 4 is a form typical of the " terramare " of
North Italy, though surviving long after neolithic days as it occurs in an iron age
cemetery at Novilara near Pesaro.* It was found also in a rifled Sicilian grave
near Syracuse.f Again the Chawia pot in Plate IV. 2, which is also distinguished
by a very peculiar handle, is closely paralleled by one from Novilara (Brizio, loc.
cit. PI. X. 14) ; and Nos. 18 and 20 of our Plate IV. — though it is true they
are undistinctive shapes — are almost identical with the Novilara pots shown in
Plates VIII. 51, IX. 23, and X. 38 of Brizio's work. The couscous pot of
Plate IV- 6 is indeed of a not very distinctive form ; it is such as almost any people
might chance upon, but it is singularly like the great olla of the terramare\ and of
the Sicilian graves. Another type of couscous pot, which is not given in the
illustrations, had vertical ring-holes in place of the mere protruding bosses of that
shown in IV. 6 ; and such a variety is at once more distinctive in character and
nearer to the Italian model. Pots resembling Nos. 5, 6, 13, 18 of our Plate
IV. were discovered in excavations on the little island of Pantelleria ; which, as there
is no potter's clay to be found there, probably imported most of its ware from
either Africa or Sicily — perhaps from both.§

A peculiar characteristic of some of the Chawia pottery, which occurs also very
frequently in some of the rougher Kabyle forms, is the connecting bridge between
the body of the vessel and the spout. The same feature appears in the pottery
from a neolithic village in Apulia attributed to the early Sicilians.||

The form shown in our Plate IV. 3 is almost identical with Egyptian pots
of the prehistoric and fourth dynasty periods ; IF but it would not be justifiable to
build much upon this resemblance, for it is simply a neolithic type and hardly
characteristic of any one country in particular.

In short, the Chawia pottery affords no especial evidence of connection with
Egypt, but reveals a close and quite unexpected relationship to very early European
and especially to Italian models.

* Brizio, "Necropoli di Novilara," in Monumenti Antichi, vol. v. Plates VIII. 49 and 53.

t Orsi, " Necropoli presso Siracusa," in Mon. Ant. vol. ii.

\ See e.g. Pigorini, "Terramara Castellazo," in Mon. Ant. vol. i. punt. i.

§ See Orsi, "Pantelleria," in Mon. Ant. vol. ix. punt. 2.

II See Giovanni Patroni, " Un villaggio siculo presso Matera," in Mon. Ant. viii.

IT See "Nagada and Ballas," Plates XXII. 20, XXXIX. 22, XLV. \a.

CHAPTER VII

KABYLIA ITS INHABITANTS VILLAGES HOUSES CEMETERIES

Kabyiia. Kabylia is a term without very precise geographical limitations, the name of
Kabyles being given in general to all the Berber tribes who inhabit the coast
mountains of Algeria,* Commonly, however, the employment of the word is
somewhat restricted, and Kabylia in its ordinary signification may be considered
to denote on the one side the districts which immediately border on Bougie, and on
the other those which centre about Fort National. This tract of country is divided
into two almost equal portions by a fine river, the Sahel ; and the western half,
which includes the magnificent Djurdjura range, is sometimes distinguished as
" Great " Kabylia, The natural features of a great part of it have been so minutely
described by Hanoteau and Letourneux that it is needless to devote more than a
few lines to depicting their general character.

If the Aures region has been said to consist of rugged highlands rather than true
mountains, Kabylia must be exempted from any such detraction. The lofty crests
of the Djurdjura dominate the whole country, and there are few points from which
Lalla Khadidja (7542 feet) and her sister peaks cannot be seen. East of the Sahel
the mountains do not rise to such imposing heights, nor break into similar groups
of jagged peaks, but the cliffs at Gelaa are more than 3000 feet above the sea, with
splendid precipices (Plate VII. 5), The Sahel and the Sebaou are the great rivers
of Kabylia, and are fed by numerous smaller streams cutting their way between the
undulating tree-clad hills that descend from the Djurdjura to the coast.

The land is not extraordinarily fertile except in the broad valleys of the two chief

* Possibly the wide range of the term Kabyles may be explained by the circumstance that the " Kabales " of
Herodotus would have been among the very first of the Berber peoples with whom the Arabs, entering North Africa
from the east, came into contact. The name would thus have come to be used of Berbers in general ; and perhaps the
resemblance to the Arabic word Kaba'il (tribes) encouraged its diffusion.

KABYLIA— ITS INHABITANTS 43

rivers, but it is cultivated with the minutest care. Wherever the little oxen can drag
a plough the thrifty Kabyle sows his corn ; and fig-trees and olives flourish every-
where. There is no lack of space ; it is not as in the Aures, where cultivation is
limited to a narrow belt along the stream ; here rolling slopes and clustered knolls
and mamelons give ample room for the peasant farmer's crops.

Olives grow with a luxuriance that is rare in Europe ; their very character seems
almost changed ; free-branching and tall they hardly resemble the storm-twisted
trees that are seen in Italy. Much of the country is richly forested ; several
species of oaks, of which the most frequent is the ilex, with here and there a few
cork-trees or a carob, clothe the sides of the deeper glens. Wild flowers abound ;
tall shrubs of yellow genista and bushes of mauve or white rock-roses grow every-
where about the hills, and the stream beds are almost choked with oleanders.

The people are not mountaineers ; it would be an error to conceive them as being The inhabitants.
like Swiss or Tyrolese — they resemble these as little as their country resembles the Alps,
Few villages are built high up in the Djurdjura range, and the steep mountains are
visited only by the shepherds in search of pasture. It is among the lower hills that
the Kabyle lives ; he is not a crag-climber nor a hunter, but a most laborious tiller of
the soil. As far as physical type is concerned, the Kabyles may be described in precisely
the same terms that have been used in speaking of the Chawia. Like the latter they
are essentially white men, generally with black hair and brown or hazel eyes. Blonds
occur among them, in varying proportions in different districts ; but are almost if not
quite invariably in a minority, so far as could be judged, even in any single district.
Probably, however, the stock has been kept less pure than among the Chawia, for
among the Ait Aissi at Tamaosht there occurred a considerable number of men with
heads which were both smaller and rounder than those of the normal Berber type,
which is subdolichocephalic ; but even here the typical form was at least as numerously
represented as the other. Down in the plains and in the neighbourhood of the
European colonies there has, of course, been a great deal of crossing of stocks ; but on
the whole the native type seems to predominate. It would be interesting, if not
altogether easy, to conduct an enquiry with the view of discovering the exact effect of
such crossing, and of deciding whether the offspring of mixed marriages tends to reproduce
rather the physical features of the native or of the alien race. The study may be
commended to those who have not the opportunity or perhaps the inclination to
visit the Kabyles in the dirt and discomfort of their homes. For our own part we

44 LIBYAN NOTES

deliberately avoided taking measurements or photographs, or making special observa-
tions, anywhere except where the position and circumstances of the village afforded a
good prospect of dealing with the untainted native source.

Though, however, the Kabyles are ethnologically identical with the Chawia they
are very far in advance of them in respect of civilisation. An approximate idea of their
relative position might be given by saying that the Kabyles are as far superior to the
Chawfa in material culture as the English of the Stuart period were superior to the
English of the twelfth century, or the Spaniards of Cervantes' time to their rude
ancestors of five centuries earlier. Arts and industries unknown in the Aures flourish
in Kabylia, and such as are common to both have been carried to a far higher
degree of perfection in the latter country.
Villages. Kabyle villages resemble those of the Chawia in one respect only (excepting for

the filth and squalor which are equally inseparable from both), namely, that they are
always built on eminences and admirably adapted for purposes of defence. A very
typical example is shown in Plate VII. i, where a view is given of the village of
Tazai'rt close to Ighil Ali, in the administrative district of Akbou. The houses are
not, like those of an Aures village, built in tiers, one behind the other, but are allowed
to straggle along the slopes of the hill. Usually, however, the rise is so steep that
the lower houses are completely commanded from above, and the crest of the hill
would serve as a citadel in case of emergency. Often, too, advantage is taken of a
cliff at one side, and houses are built so close to its edge that their outer walls form
a vertical face, which unites with the cliff to present an inaccessible face. The
Kabyles, who have been an extremely warlike and quarrelsome race, have had
frequent occasion to avail themselves of these provisions for security. Whenever
it is possible the site of the village is placed just above a stream, but the numerous
springs that rise in the hills make this in many cases unnecessary.

Near the entrance of the village is always the Djemaa (Plate VII. 2), and in some
part is to be seen the unimposing mosque (Plate IX. 5), beside which in rare instances
stands a bath-house (Plate IX. 6).
Houses. Kabyle houses exhibit a great uniformity of type, and are entirely unlike those

of the Chawia. Ordinarily few have more than a ground floor, but at Tazairt and
Ighil Ali a considerable number possess a second story to which access is provided
by means of a ladder. The Chawia timber-course is altogether absent in Kabyle walls,
which, however, in the case of yards and enclosures are topped with a layer of brush-

IN KABYLIA.

PLATE VII.

1. TYPICAL KABYLE VILLAGE— TAZAIRT.

2, THE DJEMAA— GELAA.

i*'^^^

^^::.,;^g^^-*?*"^

•i-^-ifi

3. CLAY GRANARIES INSIDE A HOUSE— TAGAMUNT-AZUZ.

4. INTERIOR OF A HOUSE— TAGAMUNT-AZUZ.

^^HK^ji'

^^§s^'~'

^BjB^^ytfcri'^l^. ■

1^^^^.

^^H^fiilBSi^uHHHs^BB^^^I^^lKt^^^ ' ' *'

HWUP^-

^■.^■' "^^^^^1

^lyMb.

5. VIEW OF GELAA.

6. HUTS FOR WATCHERS OF CROPS, PLACED
UNDERNEATH AND IN BRANCHES OF A TREE.

KABYLIA— ITS HOUSES

wood and mud. This coping answers the purpose of broken glass or spikes. The
upper stories at Tazairt overhung the lower by a foot or more (cf Plate X. 3), and
were carried on stout joists or cross beams. Many of the walls in this exceptional
village were ornamented by round-headed inset arches with columns and capitals, and
decorative loopholes constructed with tiles.

At Gelaa the type was more normal, and nearly all the houses were simply single
ground-floor rooms. For the most part the walls east of the Wed Sahel were left
plain ; to the west they were almost always coated with whitewash.

At the village of Chellata were a few thatched houses, but these too were
exceptional ; nearly every edifice, whether tomb, mosque, or house, being uniformly

SECTION (not to scale) to show the construction of a kabyle roof at tagamunt azuz.

covered with red semi -circular tiles laid on laths in the same way as in the houses
of the French colonists.

The walls, save for the timber-course, are much the same as those of the Chawia,
and are built in the same way with the aid of the same clumsy hammer. It is in
the construction of the roof that the Kabyle house is fundamentally different from
the Chawia.

At Tazairt were one or two instances of" crutch " roofs, but we saw them nowhere
else. In general the Kabyle roof is carried on forked uprights. If no fork exists, a
solid log is cut at the top in such a way that the superincumbent timbers cannot

fall ofl^.

In the accompanying diagram,, which needs little further explanation,

1 is the outer skin of red tiles,

2 the laths on which they rest,

3 a packing of reeds,

4 small rafters.

46 LIBYAN NOTES

5 small longitudinal beams,

6 the main rafters,

7 the heavy longitudinal beams which rest on

8 the solid uprights which carry the whole weight of the superincumbent
mass.

It will be observed that

(i) There is no ridge-pole — its absence is a common feature in old houses in
some parts of England.

(2) There is no tie-beam of any sort.

With regard to the absence of the tie-beam, it may be remarked that most of
the stress of the very low pitched roof is diverted by the subsidiary uprights from
the tops of the walls. But even were there no such auxiliary piers, the walls are
so solidly constructed that they would probably bear the great thrust of the roof
without the aid of buttresses or tie-beams.

The interior arrangements of a typical Kabyle house are nearly as simple as
those in the houses of the Chawia ; in fact, in all minor details of equipment they
are practically identical. There is, however, this important difference. In the
Kabyle house the room (which may be 30 feet long x 1 5 feet wide x 1 2 feet high)
is divided by a wall into two portions, one of which is at a much higher level than
the other. In the higher compartment the family live, sleep and eat ; in the lower
beyond the wall are stabled the domestic animals. The party wall itself is frequently
pierced with arches so that the pen is ventilated into the main room ; upon it and
above the stable are usually placed the curious clay granaries shown in Plate VII. 3.
There may be three- or more of these * ; the family supply of corn and dried figs is
kept in them, and they are ornamented with strange designs, which sometimes
resembles the forms of Kabyle jewellery, while another favourite device is the hand.

In one corner of the room is probably an amphora of olive oil set upon a stand
(cf. Plate VII. 4) ; there may or may not be a loom. The white surface of the
plastered wall is often painted with rude frescoes in red, representing animals, trees
and men ; these can just be detected on the wall in Plate VII. 4, Mats do duty
for beds. The fire is usually put in a round hole in the ground, round which are placed
three stones to support the cooking vessel. The doorways are sometimes covered by
porches which are simply continuations of a portion of the roof. Such porches are

* At Gelaa their place is taken by huge plaited vessels, like those to be seen at El Arbaa in the Aur^s.

KABYLIA— ITS HOUSES

carried by ornamented struts,* and the doors themselves are well made and decorated
with by no means inartistic patterns (Plate VI. 4).

On the eastern side of the Wed Sahel, and especially at Tazairt and Gelaa,
much use is made of tiles to form ornamental windows and ventilating shafts. As
will be seen from the above types, these apertures are not much like those of
the Chawia houses ; though some of the simpler kinds are naturally found in both
districts.

In Figs. I and 2 the black areas are the windows proper, the cross-hatching
represents brickwork, and the space left blank is the stone wall.

In Fig. 3 the brickwork is again cross-
hatched, but there is no aperture, and both
the setting of the panels and the interior of
the tiles are filled with mortar or cement.

It may be added that these " windows "
are as common (or commoner) in the centre
of the village as in- the exterior walls ; from
which it appears that they were not specially
designed as loopholes for bowmen or gunners,
though they might well have proved useful in
the event of a siege.

The modern Kabyle house must almost
certainly be a comparatively recent introduction
from some European source. As has been
remarked in dealing with the Chawfa houses,
it is possible that the older dwellings are repre-
sented by the huts which abound in the vicinity of the villages. These huts are
round and have no centre-pole in the interior. The roofs are formed by attaching
the lower ends of boughs to the top of the side wall, their upper extremities being
fastened together at the top. All are made of logs or branches and strengthened
with vines or nets ; a very low door closed by a slab of wood is the only means
of entrance or exit. Being thatched with hay or straw they are sufficiently water-
tight for their purpose, whether it be to shelter the owners of the crops or to protect
the stored corn. In Plate VII. 6 are shown two of these huts (cf Plate VIII. 5),

* We saw none of these east of the Wed Sahel.

windows and tile-work in the wall of the
kaId's house at tazaVrt.

48 LIBYAN NOTES

one beneath and one in the branches of an ilex about fifteen feet from the ground ;
the second of the two was obviously only used as a look-out station.
Cemeteries. Outside the village is the cemetery (Plate VIII. 5), with graves which are roughly

outlined with natural unworked slabs set on edge along the sides and with a head
and foot stone. Often but not always they are covered in with a top slab,* which
gives them an appearance much like those in ordinary English churchyards.

The grave of a marabout is more elaborate, often approaching rather the
dimensions and form of a chapel. Such graves vary in style ; one is shown in
Plate VIII. 3, 4. It was close to an ordinary cemetery, and consisted of an enclosure
about 20 feet x 1 5 feet surrounded by a low wall outside which at the south end were
two fine Aleppo pines. In the south corner of the enclosure stood a little shed about
4 feet high, inside which were rows of little oil lamps and a pan of charcoal, nothing
else. Between the shed and the south-east boundary wall lay a human femur and
tibia ; in this wall was a doorway filled up with thorn bushes to keep out intruders.
Just outside the doorway was a tree hung with shreds of clothing, the relics of pious
pilgrims. On several occasions we came across trees similarly hung with rags, recall-
ing a practice which has prevailed in many parts of the world, and even in the
British Isles.

* Graves in the Aures are similar in style but often made less carefully with small irregular stones. In neither
district was there any trace of a survival of a dolmen type or of any arrangement of the stones in a circle. Some
of the southern Berbers, however, are said to "still build tumuli with stone circles of upright slabs," Ratzel, Hist, of
Mankind, vol. iii. p. 272. They are the Kelowis of Arjijo. Ratzel does not clearly state his authority for this remark-
able piece of information, but it is evidently Von Bary. Probably he is referring to the following passage of Von Bary's
journal which, it will be seen, does not justify the inference he draws from it : — "Zur linken unseres Weges bemerkte ich
auf einem Hiigel mehrere Ruinen von Grab-Tumuli. Ich ritt vom Wege ab und fand innerhalb des friiheren Tumulus,
von dem gegenwartig nur noch ein Kreis der untersten Steine iibrig ist, zwei wohlerhaltene Kammern, die von Steinplatten
gebaut waren und ofFenbar friiher Leichname in kauernder Stellung zusammengebunden erhielten, denn sie sind ziemlich
quadratisch und so eng, dass in keiner andern Stellung ein menschlicher Korper darin Platz finden kann. Die Tuareg
erzahlten mir, diese Begrabnissweise sei bei ihnen Sitte gewesen bis zur Einfuhrung des Islam." {Zeitschrift der
Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde, vol. xii. p. 177.) Any significance that the last sentence might be supposed to possess is
discounted by the traveller's later entry in his journal : — " Ich frug denselben Mann iibsr die Eddebeni und er behauptete,
es seien keine Tuirik darin begraben ; es seien vielmehr Graber aus der Vorzeit Air's und sehr alt " (vol. xv. p. 377 ; cf.
also vol. XV. p. 230 and p. 236).

IN KABYLIA.

PLATE VIII.

5. VIEW NEAR TAGAMUNTAZUZ, SHOWING NATIVE CEMETERY AND SHEDS.

6. WOMEN DRAWING WATER.

IN KABYLIA,

PLATE IX.

1. WOOL-CARDING, THE FIRST PROCESS.

2. WOOL-CARDING, THE TWO PROCESSES.

'■^^m

*^'^i

■-^m^

^^^

«■ 5*

-^^^

•t

4. PLAYING DRAUGHTS IN THE STREET.

■'^:

3. LOOM, AND ALL THE OTHER INSTRUMENTS OF WOOL MANUFACTURE.

60»g^

5. THE MOSQUE— TAOURIRT-MOKHRAN.

6. THE BATH HOUSE-TAOURIRT-MOKHRAN.

CHAPTER VIII

Kabyle Industries

agriculture making of olive oil weaving silver-working wood-carving

iron-work

Agriculture and the making of olive-oil are the two great industries of the Kabyles. Agriculture.
Their country (much of which in fact resembles parts of northern Spain) is cultivated
with the same extraordinary care that the Catalans devote to theirs. However steep the
slopes may be they are tilled, if not with the plough at least with the hoe. A con-
siderable amount of science is shown in their methods, manure being freely used and
especial attention given to the proper rotation of the crops. The arrangement of
terraces practised by the Chawia is not found here ; it is a system which was evidently
evolved to meet the special conditions prevailing in the Aures valleys. Irrigation again,
on which almost the entire cultivation in the Aures depends, is naturally little practised
in Kabylia, where the configuration of the ground is so different as frequently to render
it impossible. The chief crop is barley ; peas, beans, lentils, and vetches are also
grown.

The Kabyle plough is almost identical with that used by the Chawia (see Chap. The plough.
V), except that it has been rendered much more useful by being shod with an iron
point. The plough is drawn by oxen (Plate X. 4).

The mills used for grinding the corn are the same as those used by the Chawia, Mills.
viz. the quern and the watermill (see Chap. V).

The production of olive-oil demands a special notice. We saw only one method in
use, unfortunately that which is certainly the most modern, viz. the grinding of the
olives in a mill worked by a mule and the extraction of the oil by a screw press. Plate
X. I shows the mill and press of which the subjoined diagram gives the component parts.

LIBYAN NOTES

The olives, in a dry condition, are laid out near themill on mats or in any con-
venient receptacle. The mill {irghis) consists of the following parts : — Two heavy piers
of rude masonry (i, tharSst) carry the heavy beam (3, uzhgu), through the centre of
which is shipped the axle (9, sari). The lower end of the axle rests in the middle of
the concave trough (4, el hodhe); which is generally constructed of rough stones and
cement, with a sufficient curvature to keep the olives well under the grindstone (5, el
mdsara). The grindstone is supported by its lower edge which is in contact with the
bed of the mill, and by the shaft (7, ethbae), which passes through its centre and
through the main axle. To the longer end of this shaft is attached the mule or other
animal that supplies the motive power ; the shorter end is carved ornamentally
and the whole is kept from being drawn out of the grindstone axle by the addition

C=^

^i^

KABYLE OIL-MILL AT TAZaIrT (nOt tO SCale).

of the keys (8, thakhelelth) ; the small wheel (11, thashirnanth) serving as a washer.
Similarly, the axle key serves to keep in position another wheel (6, themhiresth) the
function of which is to maintain the grindstone in the perpendicular position from
which the curvature of the bed tends to deflect it. It will be observed that the axle is
cut down to a roughly circular form at top and bottom, otherwise it would not be able
to revolve with the shaft and grindstone. In the middle it is left of its original size in
order that it may not be materially weakened by the insertion of the shaft. The grind-
stone does not exceed five or six feet in diameter by a foot in thickness. It has two
separate motions. As the mule walks round, it turns with the shaft in a horizontal
direction, and at the same time revolves very slowly on its own proper axis.

An attendant keeps the olives under the grindstone with a wooden shovel (eluah)^
pouring on to them at intervals small quantities of water. The mule may wear over the
eye next to the machinery a blinker of basket-work {ekhimbil) which prevents it from
becoming frightened or giddy.

KABYLE INDUSTRIES

-8-

^ ft"

The heavy beam 2 {thakokenth) serves only to keep the uzhgu in position, and a
rope-bag, full of stones (10, theshhekhth), assists in the same way.

When the olives have been sufficiently crushed they are packed as tightly as
possible into flat round baskets [thekfashi), which have a small hole in the top scarcely
large enough to admit more than a handful at
a time. The baskets, as they are filled, are
put one upon another under the press, and
the extraction of the oil begins.

The press is supported by two sturdy
wooden uprights (all the parts are of wood)
— I, thizhdath — the beam 2 {thakokenth) rest-
ing upon them. In some cases the uprights
are morticed into the cross-beam and secured
by pegs, 5 {thakhelelth). The screw and
pressure - block may be of one piece (3,
mSghzel), the latter part having two holes
bored right through it for the insertion of
the lever (4, aghzet). The stout board 6
[eluah) is shaped somewhat like a butcher's tray, the ends being supported when the
press is open for the reception of the baskets of olives by ropes fastened to the top
beam, and it is further strengthened by cross-pieces, 7. The bed of the press consists of
two parts, 10 and 9, though it has but one name — tharvuith. The higher part (10)
is surrounded by a rim of considerable depth, and has a sufficient slope to allow the oil
to drain through 12 into the lower basin 9 ; from the spout of which (11) it escapes
into a shallow wooden platter 13, also called tharvutth.

The pressure board {eluah) prevents the downward thrust of the screw from being
diverted laterally, and thus the whole of the force applied at the lever is employed in
pressing out the oil. From time to time the press is tightened up, until the contents of
the baskets seem to be exhausted. The big platter is then emptied into a goat-skin bag,
or poured by means of a plaited string funnel {inifif ) into a large two-handled, green-
topped jar {kus). The olives, from which all the oil is now nearly extracted, may be
used as manure ; or they may be subjected to a washing in basins cut in the bed of a
stream, where the last vestiges of the oil are skimmed from the surface of the water.

The Mill and Press, from which these illustrations and description were made,

KABYLE OLIVE-PRESS AT TAZAiRT (diagrammatic).

52 LIBYAN NOTES

were situated at Tazairt ; but, so far as we could see, neither the machinery nor the
methods employed elsewhere differed from those here detailed in any essential feature.
The origin of this Mill and Press is a question of some interest. They are certainly not
of purely native invention, neither do they seem to be directly descended from the
Roman model.* There is apparently no record of their being introduced from Europe ;
probably, however, they were derived either from France or Spain at no very remote
period, in which case their genealogy is ultimately traceable to Rome though in an
indirect line.

Hanoteau and Letourneux mention two other methods of oil-making. The first
of these is clearly the original native process ; in it the olives are simply placed on a
flat rock and ground against it by an oblong stone which is pushed to and fro by the
women, one at each end.f The other method is employed with those olives which,
owing to the inferior conditions of their growth, have to be treated while still fresh from
the tree ; these being soft, have water poured over them and are trodden out by the
women.

The basins shown in Plate X. 2 are used at the conclusion of any of these three
processes. In them the residuum of the oil is washed out from the already thoroughly
crushed olives. They are constructed in a convenient place beside a spring, the water •
of which supplies them when they are needed for use.
Weaving. The methods employed in the manufacture of woollen clothes are precisely the same

as those which exist among the Chawia, but a detailed notice of the loom which is used
in both countries has been deferred till the present. The whole of the work is done by
the women. In Plate IX. 3 may be seen all the implements which are used, viz. the
distaff itaroka), the spindle {thazenarth) , the wire brushes {akardash) for the finer card-
ing,:}: the comb [thaiyazilt) for pressing down the woof {adraf), and finally the loom
itself {azto).%

The loom is of the vertical kind. Two uprights {tirigli) are fastened to the wall,
floor, and roof so as to ensure sufficient stability. A heavy cross bar {afgdg) is then
pegged down with wooden pins {thazkwarth) to the bottom of the loom, and the ends

* On Roman oil-mills and presses, see J. L. Myres, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries , II. xvii. 280 (19th Jan. 1899).

t This we never saw, and suspect it is rapidly disappearing with the increase in the number of mills. It is a method
very similar to that which is used in Tripoli.

X See Plate IX. 2 for the way in which these are used. The rough carding is shown in Plate IX. i . It was impossible
to take a photograph of a woman engaged in the work which is the reason that a man is shown doing the carding, though
it is really done by the women.

IN KABYLIA.

PLATE X.

2. BASINS FOR THE FINAL WASHING OF THE PRESSED OLIVES.

4. OXElM AT THE PLOUGH.

5. POTTERY MAKING AT TAOURIRT-MOKHRAN.

-" .T^^ei

6. POTTERY MAKING AT TAOURIRT-MOKHRAN.

KABYLE INDUSTRIES 53

of the warp are made fast to it ; its structure allows of its being revolved by hand for as
many turns as may be necessary to keep the growing portion of the fabric at a con-
venient level for the operator as she sits behind. At the top is a similar afg'dg which
may be raised or lowered at will by tightening or loosening the ropes by which it is
secured in position ; to this the tops of the warp are attached. The warp (called azto
like the whole loom) is decussated by means of a horizontal rod {audir) and leashes {ilnt) ;
two other rods {aghanim) are employed to keep the warp tight and to separate its threads.
There is also a clasp and string [thazpat) attached to the side post and to the fabric, to
preserve its shape and to keep up the requisite lateral tension.

It is very remarkable that, in spite of possessing such an excellent loom, the Kabyle
and Chawia women do not use the shuttle at all. The woof is passed by hand from
right to left, pressed down with a bodkin and thrust home with the comb.

Kabyle jewellery is very similar in class and kind to that of the Chawia (cf. Chap, silver-working.
V) . A typical set of ornaments is shown in Plate V. 4. The work is more showy than
that of the Aures silversmiths, the ornaments larger and of less pure silver. Coral is
often replaced by paste, with which it is easier to make the enormous bosses that the
natives admire. In villages that are within easy reach of French settlements, European
models and designs are fast being introduced.

The doors of many Kabyle houses are ornamented with carved patterns (Plate Wood-carving.
VI. 4) ; this industry is peculiar to certain villages. The best wood-carving that we
saw was in Tazairt. The workmen here were extremely skilful, but their productions
were too much influenced by European models to be of great interest ; some were
curious, being apparently imitations in wood of sixteenth or seventeenth -century
Spanish or Italian weapons. It is said that the Kabyles were very expert in the
manufacture of genuine weapons of war until this was stopped by the French.

The Kabyle smiths are excellent. At Tagamunt-Azuz we saw some well-con- iron-work
structed forges furnished with two varieties of large bellows. All sorts of iron-work
are produced ; good knives are made and toothed sickles.

Other Kabyle industries are the preparation of leather, the making of wax from
the products of their numerous beehives, and the manufacture of pottery, to a description
of which the next chapter is devoted.

CHAPTER IX

DETAILS OF THE MANUFACTURE OF KABYLE POTTERY

Pottery amongst the Kabyles, as amongst the Chawia, is all manufactured by the
women, and is all made by hand without the use of the wheel. We studied the
processes in detail at several places, especially at Taourirt-Mokhran (Plate X. 5, 6), about
two miles from Fort National, and at Tagamunt-Azuz (the whole of Plate XL), among
the Ait-Aissi ; and brought back specimens of the clays, pigments, and brushes, as well
as of the pottery itself.*

The clay is a compound of two very coarse earths which are wetted and mixed
together, pulverised pieces of old broken pots being further added to the compound to
give firmness.
How a pot is The first stage in the manufacture is the kneading of the moist clay with the

hands (Plate XL i, right). It is then made into rolls (Plate X. 5, left), which are
placed one on the top of another as needed upon the round platter which serves as a
base. Next the clay is fashioned with the hand till gradually the desired shape is
obtained, strips being added from time to time as more clay is needed to bring it up
to the requisite height. Then the superfluous clay is removed from the outside and
the surface is smoothed with a small scraper of flat wood. If the pot is of ordinary
dimensions its form is now complete and it is left on the platter to dry (Plate X. 6).
If, however, it is unusually tall like that shown in Plate XL i, it must be left to
harden before being carried up to the full height, as the soft clay will not bear the
weight of the entire superstructure ; in such a case it is left on one side and another is
begun ; the first will not be finished until it is sufficiently dry to bear the addition of
more strips.

The form of the pot or platter being now complete it is left to dry, the processes

* These and all other specimens that we brought back from Algeria have been deposited in the Pitt-Rivers
Museum at Oxford.

STAGES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KABYLE POTTERY.

PLATE XI.

1. BUILDING UP A POT WITH STRIPS OF CLAY.

3. PAINTING THE INTERIOR WITH A FINE BRUSH.

^^^SSk^-^ ^^Ej

^^jmaf:!:^^'gBMEitgga^MMMM; ^U ^K^EfmT

4. BURNISHING AN UNPAINTED POT WITH PEBBLE, AND PAINTING INTERIOff.

FIRING THE POTS IN THE OPEN AIR.

6. FINAL STAGE, RUBBING WITH A YELLOW RESIN WHILE HOT FROM FIRE.

THE MANUFACTURE OF KABYLE POTTERY SS

of decoration will take place the next day, or as soon after the drying as the operator
has leisure to begin.

Before it is painted the pot must be burnished. This is done with a pebble after How it is

decorated.

moistening the surface of the dry clay with water (Plate XI. 4, left).

The painting is done with little brushes, one of which is very coarse for laying
on broad washes, while three finer ones of graduated thicknesses are used for putting
in narrower bands and patterns. The colours used are three only, viz. red, white, and
black (cf. Frontispiece) obtained from raw lumps of native earths of which the analysis
is given below. These are ground with water on a stone (Plate XI. 2, right).

The platter which the girl is shown painting in Plate XI. is that which is drawn
among our types as No. 3 in Plate XII. ; it may serve as an example from which to
enumerate the stages in the painting. Its colouring is the same as that of the platter
shown in Frontispiece i, and the patterns are very similar. First the inside was
smeared all over with white, then the rim and centre were painted with red.* Next
the inner lines, chevrons, cross-hatchings, and chessboardings were put in with a fine
brush in black and red ; this stage has just been arrived at in Plate XI. 3, and is shown
a little more advanced in Plate XI. 4 (right). The painting was finished by putting
in the white lines on the red rim and on the inner red panel which is near the centre.

The pot is next fired. This can be done immediately after the painting. A heap Firing.
of wood is made in the open air and the pots are put in the middle and covered over
loosely with the pieces, not of course so closely as to limit the access of air. The wood
is then set on fire. This whole process (Plate XI. 5) takes about twenty minutes.

Lastly the pots are taken, while still hot, from the fire and rubbed over with the Varnishing.
yellow resin of some coniferous tree. This has the effect of varnishing and of fixing
the colours. To our eyes, however, it spoiled the appearance of the pot by turning
all the part of the field and pattern which had previously been bright white to a light
yellow. A few pots are spared this treatment and the white remains in its natural
state, but they are the inferior specimens. One such is shown in Frontispiece 2-f It
came from Taourirt-Mokhran, where we saw it made, and it is a distinctly inferior
specimen ; the colours not being varnished will rub off with handling.

The specimens of the colouring matters which we brought back were analysed Composition of

the colours.

with the following results : —

* In another case a second burnishing was given after the red had been put on.

t To which, however, in our reproduction it has been necessary to give a slight yellow tinge to distinguish it from
the white of the paper.

LIBYAN NOTES

The white is a " marl " composed of

Silica ....

70 per cent

Alumina .....

. 18.5 „ „

Water ......

5-6 „ „

Calcium carbonate ....

4-5 » »

Magnesia ......

1.2 „ „

Traces of soda and of potash.

The red is a " ferruginous clay " composed of

Ferric oxide ......

42.4 per cent.

Alumina .......

9-1 „ „

Silica .......

• 48-5 » «

Traces of magnesia.

The black is an " iron ore " composed of

Ferric oxide ......

88.4 per cent.

Alumina .......

3-4 » »

Silica .......

■ 7-8 » »

Traces of magnesium and sulphur.

CHAPTER X

COMPARISON OF KABYLE AND EGYPTIAN POTTERY

There was little in the work and products of the Chawla to suggest any close relation-
ship with early Egypt. This is hardly to be wondered at when it is remembered that
they have no art sufficiently developed to serve as a basis for comparisons. Kabyle
work offers a more promising field for inquiry ; for their pottery, which is the chief
manifestation of such art as they possess, is incomparably superior to that of the Chawia
and exhibits forms and designs which are at once distinctive and characteristic. On the
other side the prehistoric cemeteries of Egypt have yielded so many hundred different
types of pottery of various classes, that there exists a sufficient mass of material to amply
justify the comparative study that we are about to attempt.

Kabyle pots may be grouped under six headings, which do not constitute a scientific
division but facilitate treatment for the present purpose. They are as follows : —

(i) White or light-yellow decoration on a red ground. This style is combined
with that of (5) which, however, occurs frequently by itself.

(2) Red decoration on a white ground,

(3) Black decoration on a white ground.

(4) Red ware with very little ornamentation.

(5) Black decoration on a yellow ground.

(6) Pots which are quite plain and undecorated.

The first of these classes is by far the most important in relation to prehistoric (1) White or Hght-

yellow decoration

Egypt. Ware of this kind is manufactured in Kabylia west of the Sahel, chiefly among on red ground.
the Ai't-Aissi in the administrative district of Fort National. Of the examples given
in our plates those which are seen in Frontispiece i, 2, 5, in Plate XII. i, 3, and in
Plate XIV. 5, 10, 12, 13 come from the villages of the Ait-Aissi, while that in Frontis-
piece 3 is from Taourirt-Mokhran, close to Fort National.

58 LIBYAN NOTES

The pot figured in Frontispiece 4 was bought at Ighil AH, It was not, however,
made there, but brought in the course of trade, as its owner told us, from the Ait
Suleiman near Gergul* {i.e. from the Kabylia of Bougie east of the Sahel).

The processes employed in the manufacture and decoration have been fully
described in the last chapter. Here it is only necessary to recall that the pot is
covered with a red wash obtained from a native ferruginous earth and then decorated
in patterns with a native white earth. Frequently the makers are not content with this,
but further decorate a large part of the field with designs in black, a feature which
must for the present be left out of account.

The general resemblance of this ware f to the polished red pottery with white cross-
lines which is found in the prehistoric cemeteries in Egypt (see in detail Nagada and
Ballas, Plates XXVIII. XXIX.) is at once apparent (c£ especially our Frontispiece 4,
with Nagada and Ballas, Plate XXVIII. y^, 76) ; and further the technique of the
decoration is identical, if Professor Flinders Petrie is correct in his view that the ware
which is found in Egypt was coated with red haematite and then painted in white
patterns with gypsum. There is a slight difference in colour, owing no doubt partly to
the slightly different proportions of the elements in the composition of the native colour-
ing-matters respectively obtainable in the two countries. Thus the Kabyle ware is
generally of a rather brighter and yellower red than the Egyptian, but the enormous
difl?erence in respect of antiquity must also be taken into consideration. In the course
of over 7000 years the Egyptian ware may well have lost some of its brightness, and as
a matter of fact some of the better-preserved pieces are even now of a warmer red than
that in which they are depicted in our plate. On the other hand, the brilliant red of
the freshly-made Kabyle pots tones down considerably with age. Thus whereas i, 2,
3, 5 in the frontispiece are of the brighter shade, the piece numbered as 4, which was
a good many years old, had faded and lost much of its brightness. Its colour where
the glaze remains is not identical with the cerise-red of the Egyptian, but wherever
the glaze has worn off and the original colour can be seen it has precisely the tint of
the Egyptian ware ; so much so that if a specimen of the latter be put beside it no shade
of difference can be detected.^ We have referred in the last chapter to the final glaz-

* This tribe is also said to manufacture the triple, quadruple, and multiple pots of similar form which are the types
of Kabyle ware that most commonly find their way into collections. Such pots do not seem to be made by the Ait Ai'ssi,
but the manufactures of both tribes are highly esteemed and widely traded over the country.

t We believe that Mrs. Eustace Smith was the first to call attention to the resemblance.

\ In our plate the whole pot has been coloured of the shade which is shown in the parts where the glaze has
rubbed off.

COMPARISON OF KABYLE AND EGYPTIAN POTTERY

ing with resin employed for most though not all of this ware, which not only heightens
the colour of the red but has the further effect of giving a slightly yellowish tinge to
what were previously brilliant white lines.

In the detail as well as in the whole character of the patterning there is the closest
resemblance between the Kabyle and the Egyptian. The zigzag lines are a favourite
design in both (cf Frontispiece 4 with Frontispiece 9) ; the latticed triangles may be
seen equally in Frontispiece i and in Frontispiece 8 ; the simple chevrons of Frontis-
piece 6, 7 occur in Frontispiece i and in Plate XII. i, and are of all patterns the most

characteristically Kabyle. The cross-barred line seen in Frontispiece 3, 4 is exactly
matched by No. 70 in Plate XXIX. of the Nagada types, and the plain white barrings
are amply illustrated in the same plate of the Nagada book.

Even in the shapes of the pots there is a considerable amount of resemblance as
will shortly be shown. In Egypt the favourite forms are shallow trays, small shallow
bowls such as «, small calyx-cups such as b^ and high-standing jars like c, ^, the units
of which being combined evolve the form e, which in a more degraded type appears
again as/! There is an important point to be observed in this connection, viz. that
these are all small and simple forms in which ample swelling curves are not attempted.
They are therefore exactly those which could be easily produced by such a process of
building-up in strips as the Kabyles employ. On the other hand, they contrast sharply
with the " decorated " class of prehistoric Egyptian pottery * which affects such forms as

* See Nagada and Ballas, Plates XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV.

6o LIBYAN NOTES

g, h, k. The latter might indeed be made by the same building-up process, but it
would be by no means easy ; and we suggest that for this class of " decorated " ware,
which has no analogies with any Kabyle types, there was employed a process which
is similarly unknown to the Kabyles, viz. that of beating out with a stone from the
inside until the originally cylindrical shape which the pot assumed in its first stages
is modified into something like a globe with bold ampulla curves.*

While the Kabyles undoubtedly use a considerable variety of shapes for their
white-lined ware which have no Egyptian analogies,t yet some of those represented in
the plates may well be considered to support our comparison. Frontispiece 2 is only a
much enlarged variety of a polished red " New Race " pot, while Frontispiece 5 and
Plate XII. I are " New Race " forms, though in Egypt they were not given the white-
lined decoration. One whole class of pots corresponds very closely in the two countries
even in respect of pure form. It is that which is represented in Kabylia by No. 4 of
the Frontispiece and in Egypt by No. 6 of the Frontispiece and by the types c, d, e,f,
which have been figured in the preceding paragraph. Such pots may be single, double,
or multiple ; the single unit is seen in c and d, but does not occur in the Kabyle
examples, which are all compound. Finally the very use of multiple pots is peculiarly
characteristic of Kabyle work, and the recurrence of such a marked peculiarity in the
prehistoric Egyptian is not the least valuable corroboration of the theory that the
products of the two countries have a common origin.
2) Red decoration The sccoud of the classes into which Kabyle pots have been divided has no

on a white ground.

Egyptian affinities ; under it are comprised Nos. 6, 7, 8 of Plate XIV. It is an attractive
and apparently uncommon ware, the decoration being laid on in crimson on a brilliant
white background. Our specimens were bought at various places, and we did not come
across the seat of the manufacture. We were informed that No. 8 came from the
commune of Guelma, and No. 7 was said to have come from near Constantine. Other
specimens of this class were said to have been made in a very remote village of the
Djurdjura in the commune of Michelet.
(3) Black decora Under the third heading come Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, 9 of Plate XIV. and 21 of Plate XIII.

tion on a white

ground. The background in this case as in the last is of a brilliant white, but the decoration is

* It is the process observed by Professor A, C. Haddon at Port Moresby in British New Guinea.

t The use of the white decoration tends to be somewhat arbitrary. It is frequently an additional embellishment put
on or omitted according to individual taste. Thus No. 1 1 on our Plate XIV. is not properly a white decorated pot, though
a little white has been put on, almost as if by an afterthought, and similar pieces may be and actually are made without
any white lines or dots.

COMPARISON OF KABYLE AND EGYPTIAN POTTERY 6i

not in red but in black, while the interstices between the designs as also the handle and
the base are often coarsely smeared with "luk" (/.<?. what is apparently raw shellac).
The designs, which unfortunately do not show well in the photographs, include the
same elements that are to be noticed on the other classes of Kabyle pots, especially the
fifth class. There are, however, one or two new variations ; the most noticeable of which
are the thin latticed braids which run in vertical zigzags down the high stem.

This ware shows no close resemblances to any known in prehistoric Egypt * but it
has other connections of a highly interesting kind. It is absolutely identical in general
effect, in technique, and in detail of ornament, with Cypriote ware, which is dated to
about the ninth century B.c.t There can be no question that either Cyprus borrowed
from Libya or Libya from Cyprus, but it is not easy to decide which country was
indebted to the other. The variety of the shapes, some of which do not seem to occur
elsewhere in Kabyle pottery, inclines us to believe that Cyprus invented and Libya
borrowed ; but on the other hand it is no great step from the white ware decorated
with red, which there is no reason to suppose is not native Kabyle, to this white ware
decorated with black. One thing however is clear ; and that is that Libya had direct or
indirect intercourse with Cyprus, at a date which may well be contemporary with the
foundation of Carthage and earlier than that of the Greek colonies in North Africa.:]:
There are some magnificent examples of this ware, the gift of Mrs. Eustace Smith, to be
seen in the British Museum. It is apparently manufactured near the coast in the
direction of Philip peville.

In the fourth group are included a very large number of pots,§ of which No. 24 (4.) Red ware

with very slight

in Plate XIII. is the most typical example. The ware is generally speaking far inferior decoration,
in beauty to any of the three classes which have just been described. It is widely dis-
tributed and affects a considerable variety of forms, from the very large water-vessels
which are commonly carried about the country to such small vases as No. 20 in Plate
XIII. The distinguishing characteristic of all the examples is the predominance of the
red colouring ; the surface is not glazed but is generally very highly burnished. The
pigment is the red ferruginous earth native to the mountain districts ; and the general

* We have sometimes thought that the motives and treatment of the Mediterranean black ware incised with white
had influenced this white ware decorated with black ; but the similarity of effect may be only a coincidence.

t See specimens in the first Greek vase-room of the British Museum and elsewhere.

{ The exact date cannot of course be determined until it is known at what date this pottery disappeared from use
in Cyprus.

§ Our collection contains only a few specimens, as for the most part the dimensions of these pots are such as to render
their transport difficult.

62 LIBYAN NOTES

process of treatment is no doubt that which we saw practised in one case at Tagamunt-
Azuz ; that is to say the pot after (not during) the drying is remoistened with water and
burnished with a pebble, then the red is laid on and the surface thus coloured is
reburnished. The result is a brilliant polished face like that of the " polished red " ware
of prehistoric Egypt, for which a similar process is supposed to have been employed.
Indeed though red ware as such is by no means a distinctive product of any one country
but quite the reverse, yet considering the very close resemblances of detail in the present
case we think it may fairly be allowed to add its weight to the cumulative evidence of
Berber-Egyptian connection. This ware then we regard as the Libyan representative of
the "polished red ware" of prehistoric Egypt.

This red Kabyle ware, though its most typical examples are nearly, plain is not quite
devoid of ornament. Thus No. 24 in Plate XIII. has a fret pattern which when
combined produces almost the effect of a Maltese cross ; and such is the most usual
style of decoration employed on the large red water-vessels. From this the more
elaborate design in black on a red ground seen in No, 23 Plate XIII. is evolved.

With this class may be considered several pots which cannot well be grouped under
any other head, though they are too elaborately ornamented to be properly compared
with Plate XIII. No. 24, which is the true type of the " Libyan polished red." Of these
No, 13 in Plate XII, is a unique and very fine specimen, the field of which is made up in
equal proportions of white and finely burnished red, while a scrabbled and latticed
pattern in black is further laid over part of the white. Not unlike this in treatment are
Nos, 17 and 18 * of Plate XIII. though they are far inferior in finish, and the same may
be said of No. 22 in Plate XIII. which is half white and half red with an ornamentation
in vertical and zigzag black lines, and a single fret which may be compared with the
double fret of XIII. 24.

Of these specimens Nos. 17 and 18 of Plate XIII. were made at Taourirt-Mokhran,
and No. 22 of Plate XIII. was made at Tagamunt-Azuz ; of the remainder, two were
bought at Ighil-Ali and two near Fort National.
(5) Black decora- The fifth of our classes contains a very large number of pots, most of which are

tion on a yellow

ground. inferior m style to the finer wares. It is a somewhat miscellaneous group, and the

division is so far unsatisfactory that it tends to overlap with the first class. Its character-
istic, the decoration in black on a yellow ground, is one of the elements, as has already

* No. 18 of Plate XIII. is exactly matched in shape by a late "New Race" pot from Diospolis, now numbered as
L 70 of the " New Race " types.

1 : 6

KABYLE POTTERY.

Plate XII.

1 : 6

KABYLE POTTERY.

Plate XIII.

KABYLE POTTERY.

PLATE XIV.

COMPARISON OF KABYLE AND EGYPTIAN POTTERY 63

been remarked, that enters into most of the specimens of the first class. What differ-
entiates the latter from that now under consideration is the use of white line on the
red ground ; and this is a feature which may or may not occur upon examples which are
in other respects identical. Thus No. 9 in Plate XIII. falls into our fifth class ; but
precisely the same form, only more highly finished, is frequently decorated with white
lines and spots,* and it would then be included under our first class. Similarly the
pottery table in Plate XII. 6 differs from XII. i in little except the absence of the white
decoration. It is very much a question of the degree of elaboration in the finer pieces ;
the best are ornamented with white, while the inferior specimens lack this addition.f

The quite common and rough forms are never given the white ornament. Some
of them are almost or quite identical with those found among the Chawia ; save that the
curious bosses, protuberances, and dentations in the clay disappear when colour is relied on
to give the ornament. Such are Plates XII. 4, XIII. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, J 13, 14, 15, all of
which are distinctly inferior to such pieces as Plate XII. 2, 6, and Plate XIII. 9, though
the necessities of classification have brought them under the same head. They represent
a style which seems to be confined to no one locality, but to be generally distributed
throughout the country. No. 19 in Plate XIII. is interesting as being obviously copied
from a gourd (cf. the natural gourd hanging on the wall of the house in Plate VII. 4) ;
it was bought in a village of the Beni Yenni near Fort National and had apparently
been made there.

Many of the patterns on these pots are extremely interesting.§ It does not enter
into our scheme to examine them minutely in the present volume, but we greatly hope
that some of those distinguished anthropologists who have made a special study of the
origin and development of ornament will turn their attention to Kabyle art.

Lastly, the Kabyles use a great deal of plain coarse ware, of which a few examples (6) Plain un-

decorated ware.

are given in the illustrations. Nos. 9, 11, 12 of Plate XII., and Nos. i, 11, 25 of Plate
XIII. are examples of this. The generic resemblance of this ware to that of the Chawia
is very noticeable. It is evident that the potter's art had a common foundation in both

* As may be seen in the fine amphorae common in museums. These are not figured in our illustrations, but we
saw them being manufactured at Tamaosht.

t Nos. 5 and lo in Plate XII. are just on the border. They might or might not have the white ; as a matter of fact
both have a slight decoration of white spots.

I In Plate XIII. Nos. 5 and 12 are the same specimen from two different points of view, and Nos. 7 and 10 are
similarly two aspects of one pot.

§ One that is not shown in our illustrations is apparently derived from leather- work as in certain Cypriote examples.
Others show the influence of basket-work.

64 LIBYAN NOTES

districts, but in this as in other things the Chawia have been content to stand still while
their Kabyle kinsmen were more progressive. Of these specimens No. 1 1 in Plate XIII.
is interesting as being a puzzle pot like those which used to be and perhaps still are
made in some parts of England ; it has no opening on the top, but only a round hole
underneath ; it is difficult to believe that it is not a copy of some imported model. No.
9 in Plate XII. very closely resembles in form No. 40 in Plate XXVI. of Nagada and
Ballas ; and No. 12 Plate XII. is matched by C 65 of the types from Diospolis.

These coincidences of form naturally bring us to consider what, to an excavator
familiar with " New Race " types, is perhaps the most striking of all the resemblances
between TCabyle and prehistoric Egyptian pottery. In Plate XII. 6, 7, 8 are shown
three varieties of pottery tables. The pottery tables of the " New Race " and early
Egyptians are the most familiar of objects to every archaeologist. It is very remarkable
to find them in everyday use at the present time amongst the Kabyles. But the re-
semblance goes farther than this. Not only are pottery tables as such common to Egypt
and Kabylia, but all three of the types shown in our plate can be matched from the
furniture of Egyptian graves. No. 6 is the normal form of pottery table with unperfor-
ated stem * of which an example was found in a " New Race " grave at Diospolis ; No.
7, which has a stem pierced with oblong slits,t is as nearly as possible the type of No.
22 in Plate XXV. of Nagada and Ballas, a form which survives into Old Kingdom ;
and lastly No. 8, the stem of which is perforated with round holes, is absolutely identical
with one of the new types found in Egypt since Nagada and Ballas was published,
and now numbered as ^db of the " Late " New Race types. J
Kabyle decorative The great characteristic of Chawia and Kabyle decoration is the prevalence of

art.

rectilinear patterns. This feature is illustrated above all by the pottery. In the silver-
work, it is true, there occur curved lines and scrolls, which are used sparingly enough in
the engraved designs but often in the outlines of the ornament (see Plate V) . Again in
the carvings upon the door-fronts (Plate VI. 4) rosettes and leaf-like motives may be
detected. But it is very significant that none of these more developed styles of
ornamentation are to be found upon the pottery. This is a fact of capital importance, and
affords the most valuable corroboration of the view that we have here to deal with the
survival of an exceedingly primitive manufacture. A people who use only rectilinear

* Made by the Ait Aissi and probably elsewhere. t Said to have been made by the Beni Wagag.

X It is no valid objection to our argument to say that red pottery with white ornamentation is found in South
America and pottery tables in Japan. There has never been any idea of connecting these countries with Egypt, whereas
the borders of Libya marched with those of Western Egypt.

COMPARISON OF KABYLE AND EGYPTIAN POTTERY 65

designs are still in the infancy of decorative art ; most savages who have progressed at
all beyond the first stages of aesthetic culture have developed from one source or another
scrolls, maeander curves, spirals or circles. To realise how low Kabyle pottery stands
in the scale, the reader need only turn to the first few pages of Professor A. C. Haddon's
Efvolution in Art, and note how many of the motives which occur in Kabylia are
absolutely identical with those used by a very backward race of savages in Torres Straits.

We suggest then that not only the general technique but the whole style of .
ornamentation of this Kabyle pottery, proves that its makers are slavishly following out
at the present day precisely those simple rules of art which were laid down by their
prehistoric ancestors, and from which they have never departed. If this seems to be an
extraordinary instance of conservatism, it will not appear at all incredible to those who
have watched a Kabyle girl at her work using an older pot beside her as the model for
all the patterns that she is painting upon its successor. Rectilinear designs might be
perpetuated in this way for a wholly indefinite period ; their simple and rigid outlines
afford no scope for that semi-conscious misinterpretation, which in other cases so often
gives rise to numerous and wide modifications of a single original. The makers of the
white-lined red pottery of prehistoric Egypt were similarly at the stage when rectilinear
patterns dominated their art. It is true that some of their pots bear representations of
giraffes and horned sheep treated in realistic style,* but designs such as those which
appear in our frontispiece, zigzag, chevron and lattice, are by far the most common and
are no doubt the earliest. These are what they left as a legacy to our Libyans, who
have faithfully preserved them unaltered and unimproved to the present day. The
Kabyle pots that are shown in the frontispiece of this volume were made in 1900 a.d.
and yet it may be said that they are over 7000 years old.f

* Mohammedanism would have killed out any incipient tendencies of Kabyle art towards realism. In the ancient
Libyan rock drawings found at Tiout and elsewhere animals occur frequently.

t One or two of the designs which appear in our plates call for special remark. Several of the pots show the influ-
ence of basket-work very plainly ; Plate XII. i is a good example, which will stand comparison with the Terramara basket
copied by Professor Haddon in his Evolution of Decorative Art (Plate II. 9). Similarly the chess-boardings so frequent
on these pots may have their origin in plaited work (cf. Haddon, op. cit. Plate II. 3). The silver pin in our Plate V. 4
looks very like a copy of the human face, and possibly several of the designs on the silver-work may have a similar deriva-
tion. The rose-like dottings occurring on many pots, e.g. Plate XII. 6, are characteristic of some late Mycenaean pottery.
The so-called "mountain" pattern found on prehistoric Egyptain decorated pottery occurs everywhere in Kabyle work,
where it has clearly nothing to do with mountains, but arises from a combination of the triangles which enter as units into
almost all these rectilinear designs. In the central band on the stem in Frontispiece z is to be seen what looks like a legged
creature, it occurs frequently, and may be an isolated instance of a zoomorph, viz. a lizard or bird, but its treatment is very
angular and it may equally well be a development of the chevron. The occurrence of a true animal design, the camel,
on the carpet in our Plate VI. 2, is, like the making of pots in the form of camels at Tamaosht, quite exceptional, and
probably due to a recently borrowed idea.

CHAPTER XI

Review of Arguments in Favour of the Libyo-Egyptian Connection

language customs the goddess neit the carved slates prehistoric script

summary of the evidence

In Chapter X. it has been shown that Libyan pottery as represented by its survival
among the modern Kabyles, is so closely identical with that of prehistoric Egypt, in
respect of technique, of style, of form, and of ornamentation, that it is only reasonable to
infer the existence of a close connection between the two countries in the most ancient
times. It is proposed in the present chapter to examine such other arguments as have
been advanced in support of the same view. These differ greatly in value ; we
begin with such as are almost worthless and proceed with them in order of
importance.
Language. The Libyan dialects belong to the family of Berber languages, some remarks on

which have been made in the second chapter. The one point which can be regarded as
fairly established with regard to these is that they are not Semitic. Whether the
hieroglyphic language is or is not Semitic has been long debated ; biit the question may
be regarded as finally settled now that the foremost linguistic Egyptologist of the day
has given his verdict, after a period of hesitation which adds the greater value to his
long-considered judgment.* The hieroglyphic language is Semitic and the Libyan
languages are not.

But let it be remembered that hieroglyphic writing was unknown in Egypt in the
earlier stages of the prehistoric period, those stages to which the term " prehistoric "
should be properly confined to distinguish them from the proto-dynastic."t It is

* "Ich glaube mich daher keiner Ubertreibung schuldig zu machcn, wenn ich das Uraegyptische geradezu als eine
Semitische Sprache bezeichne." Adolf Erman, Die Flexion des aegyptischen Verbums, April 1900.
t Applying the term " proto-dynastic " to the first three dynasties.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LIBYO-EGYPTIAN CONNECTION 67

plausibly suggested that it may have been introduced about the time of Menes. Even
if it be conceded that the introduction may have been a little earlier, it is certain at least
that the people who manufactured that white-ornamented red pottery which reveals the
closest identity with the products of Kabyle art, were wholly ignorant of hieroglyphic
writing. In the total absence, therefore, of documentary material it is impossible to
decide what was the spoken language of the inhabitants of Egypt at that period. If
it was the same as that of their successors, then at least it was not a Libyan language ;
if it was not the same then nothing whatsoever is known about it.*

It has been alleged that a resemblance can be traced between the customs of the Burial customs.
prehistoric Egyptians, particularly in regard to burial, and those of the ancient Libyans,
but the evidence, when it is carefully examined, shrinks to remarkably small proportions.
Four methods of interment prevailed in Egyptian graves of the prehistoric period.

(i) The bodies were apparently cut up before burial, and the bones were either
scattered in various parts of the grave, or were replaced in something like their original
positions, but frequently with the omission of certain pieces. There was no coffin.

(2) The bodies were not cut up but were buried in a more or less violently con-
tracted position, the knees touching the chin and the heels touching the hips in the
most extreme cases. No coffin.

(3) The bodies were buried in a pottery coffin in the same contracted position.
(Very rare.)

(4) They were compressed into or under large jars. (Uncommon.)
Professor Wiedemann, who deals with this subject in M. de Morgan's well-known

volume, Recherches sur les origines de P^gypte (1897) says: " L'enterrement en position
embryonnaire parait avoir survecu dans quelques parties de la Libye," and gives
Herodotus, iv. 190 as his authority. But the passage in question is perfectly explicit
and runs as follows: — " All the wandering tribes bury their dead according to the fashion
of the Greeks, except the Nasamones. These bury them sitting."t It is obvious that
so far from supporting Professor Wiedemann's theory, the passage tells somewhat

* The alleged discovery of the syllables "Ra" and "Ah" in the composition of Libyan names is not a phenomenon
of great importance. Even if the identity were fully established it would still have to be shovirn that it dated back to pre-
historic times. But this style of derivation is notoriously dangerous ; and in the present case the authority is M. Halevy,
whose conclusions are not universally accepted even by his own countrymen.

t The exact meaning of Herodotus may be illustrated from a passage in Richard Lander's Records of Captain
Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa, vol. i. p. 1 39. Speaking of the Borghoo people, who live a little north of the Bight
of Benin, he says: " When a Borghoo man dies a pit is dug, either in his own house or very near to it, and the body is placed
in a sitting posture, with the hands and feet tied tightly with cord, the head inclining upwards."

68 LIBYAN NOTES

against it. It would be much more to the point to cite the fact that the contracted
position is found in the interments in Algerian dolmens : * but even in this case no im-
portance can be ascribed to the coincidence in Egypt and Algeria of a custom which has
prevailed in early times over a great part of the world. The contracted burial is
characteristic of prehistoric races in general, but of no one race in particular.

Again, Professor Wiedemann says (referring to Diodorus Siculus, v. i8)t " Dans les
lies Baleares qui etaient reliees a la civilisation libyenne, on frappait sur le cadavre pour
lui donner la plus petite dimension possible et on I'ensevelissait dans une vase." This is
certainly a point of some importance, the bearing of which is not upon the first but upon
the fourth of the methods described above. But it has to be remarked first that the
burial in large pots is rare in Egypt, occurring at a comparatively late stage in the pre-
historic period, so that it can hardly be regarded as characteristic ; and secondly that the
custom though recorded in the Balearics is unknown in North Africa. If, therefore,
there is any value in the argument, it suggests a connection of early Egypt, not with
Libya in the true sense, but with the islands and the mainland of Western Europe.

Theories, however, which seek to prove connections of race or culture from such
slight evidence, are dangerous in the extreme ; as M. de Morgan's own comparisons
sufficiently indicate. The very fact to which he refers, that burial customs analogous to
those enumerated above are known to occur in many parts of the world, deprives them
of any appreciable value as evidence of inter-tribal connection. If no more discriminat-
ing logic is to be used than the authors of these arguments employ, it might plausibly
be contended that the prehistoric Egyptians must be identified with the Andaman
Islanders, who are said to bury their dead in a sitting posture, or with the Patagonians,
who are said to postpone the final interment till the flesh has dropped off the
bones.

After what has been remarked in this connection, it is needless to enter upon the
subject of tattooing. It is a world-wide practice, and its mere existence affords no
ground for any further inferences. The analogies observed between the tattoo-patterns
of prehistoric Egypt, and those of Libya, have been implicitly dealt with in our section
on Berber ornamental art.

* See below, Chap. XII.

f Diod. Hist. V. 1 8, i'Sioi' 6e ti ttoiovcti. koI Trai/reAws i^r/XXayi^evov Trepl t^s twv TtreXeuTTjKOTOJV ra^ijs • (TvyKoxl/a.VTK
yap ^i5A.06s TO, fiiXr] Tov criujJLaTos ets ayyetov enftdWova-t Koi kidovi Sa^i'tA.eJS eiriTiOeafriv. Perhaps it would not be fair to
lay too much stress on the first words ; but it must be remarked that Diodorus seems to have thought the practice
unique.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LIBYO-EGYPTIAN CONNECTION 69

It has been frequently stated that Neit was a Libyan goddess.* If this very The goddess Neit.
important deity (the mother of the Egyptian gods and especially of Ra) could be
shown to have been originally derived from Libya, it would be a valuable argument in
favour of the early connection of that country with Egypt. It is worth while there-
fore to review briefly the evidence on which the statement rests.

It was no doubt the remarks of Herodotus, in his second and fourth books, that
first gave rise to this theory. In his account of Sais, Herodotus has much to say of the
Egyptian " Athena " ; and there can be no doubt that Neit the patroness of Sais, ^here
she was worshipped in conjunction with Osiris and Horus, is the deity to whom he
applies this name. Again, in the fourth book he says that the maidens of the Libyan
tribe called Ausees celebrated a yearly feast in honour of " Athena." Now it is quite
clear that he regards the " Athena " of Sais, and the " Athena " worshipped by the
Ausees, as identical. But it is no less clear (see book iv. 180) that this view is sensibly
influenced by the false etymology which connected the Greek TptToyheia with Lake
Tritonis. In short, Herodotus, however admirable in other respects, is not to be trusted
when he turns to identifying the gods and goddesses of different countries; and this
is a fact which is universally recognised unless his support is needed to maintain a
thesis.

But even were it proved up to the hilt that Neit was worshipped in the eastern
districts of Libya at the time when Herodotus wrote, it would contribute very little
to determining the origin of the cult ; which at this late period may well have spread
beyond its earlier boundaries. It is at least as likely that the Saite monarchs imposed
the worship of the patroness of Sais upon their neighbours as that they borrowed it
from them.

It is necessary therefore to put aside the testimony of Herodotus as having very little
true bearing on the subject, and to enquire whether there is reason to suppose that the
Libyans had any knowledge of Neit before the Saite period. '\r Here an interesting
and valuable argument is available. The symbol of Neit is ^ , which is commonly
considered to be the shuttle.f It is precisely the same as Jt that which is seen in
the form of a tattoo-mark upon the Libyans of the nineteenth dynasty pictures (tomb
of Seti I.). Few Egyptologists are likely to be content with M. Lefebure's explanation

* On Neit see Wiedermann, Die Religion der alien Agypter, p. 77, and Mallet, Le cuke de Neit a Sais.
t It is worth reminding the reader that the one remarkable point about the weaving of the Chawia and Kabyles, is
that it is done without the shuttle.

70 LIBYAN NOTES

that the Libyan in such cases has been branded as a captive with the mark of the
Egyptian goddess to whom he has been dedicated. It must therefore be admitted that
the symbol of Neit was known to the Libyans, and used by them as an ornamental
device as early as the time of the nineteenth dynasty. Still, considering how much of
the ornamental art of the Libyans was of a common character with that of the pre-
historic Egyptians, it would not be safe to over -emphasise what may be merely a
coincidence of patterns without any special significance.

Finally, it is pointed out that the crown of Neit forms the lower half of the double
crown of Egypt. There would be nothing in any way remarkable in this if, as we are
suggesting, she was a purely Egyptian goddess. The further identification of the
phonetic value which is expressed by this crown in the hieroglyphs with the word
" Battos," which Herodotus says was the Libyan name for a king, is extremely
precarious.*
Pro-dynastic Probably one of the most telling arguments in favour of the Libyan connections of

prehistoric or proto-dynastic Egypt, has been that no less an authority than Professor
Maspero identified the figures of a carved slate in the Louvre as Libyan huntsmen.f
At the time when it was made his declaration carried general conviction ; but, now
that so much more work of the same kind has been discovered, it may perhaps be
permissible to criticise the validity of the original judgment in the light of the new
material that has since become available.

Seven of these finely sculptured slates are now known, exclusive of unimportant
fragments.^: Representative examples are to be seen in the Gizeh Museum, the
Louvre, the British Museum, and the Ashmolean at Oxford. All of them exhibit a
close similarity in type ; and there is as little diversity in execution as is compatible
with the independence of individual artists. Three out of the seven depict animals
only ; § but on the remaining four, there are figures of men carved with an exquisite
fineness of detail. It is the physical type shown in these figures that has now to be

* The crown of lower Egypt is often used in the hieroglyphs in place of the hornet. Now the correct translitera-
tion of the phonetic value of the hornet is Byti ; in which the y, which is not a vowel but a consonant, forms an essential
and indispensable part of the word. Even if it were conceded that the crown had the same phonetic value as the hornet
(which is by no means proved by the mere fact of the two being sometimes interchangeable), it is clear that the word does
not suiRciently resemble Bat or Battos to justify so daring an identification.

t Histoire de POrient, vol. ii. ch. vii.

\ Mr. F. Legge has published them all together in Proc. of the Soc. of Biblical Archaeology, vol. xxii. May-
June, 1900.

§ It would be quite worth while to compare these with the animals in the Libyan rock-drawings of Tiout. The
occurrence of giraifes on the slates suggests intercourse with Central rather than with North- Western Africa.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LIBYO-EGYPTIAN CONNECTION 71

discussed. Two of the slates in question are in the Louvre, and one is at Gizeh, while
of the fourth there are tvvo large pieces, one of which is in the British Museum and the
other in the Ashmolean. On all these, men are represented with a studiously realistic
art ; and, with the exception of the triumphing king on the reverse side of the Gizeh
palette, they are precisely identical in feature.

The type, however, which is thus frequently repeated, does not in any degree
resemble that of the familiar pictures of Libyans in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and
twentieth dynasties ; and it is equally far removed from that of the modern Berbers.
So strongly marked are its characteristics that it should be possible some day to find and

Fig. I.

Fig. 2.

identify the modern representatives of the race. In Fig. i is shown one of the heads,
taken from the fragment in the Ashmolean ; beside it in Fig. 2 is the head of a
Libyan from the tomb of Merenptah.*

It is obvious that in Fig. i the crisp buckling curls on the head, the very peculiar
beard,t and above all the extraordinary bulbous nose (which resembles nothing so much
as a large onion suspended by a string from the forehead) make up an ensemble which
is as different from that of Fig. 2 as anything could be.J The nineteenth dynasty
Libyan has curly hair, but it falls in long corkscrews ; his features are quite European,

* The design on the cover of this book represents another Libyan, from the tomb of Seti I.

t It has been suggested that the men may be wearing wigs and false beards. It is possible, though it is a quite

gratuitous inference. Even if this be so, however, it needs explanation none the less. There :s no reason to suppose that
Libyans wore wigs and false beards, rather the contrary.

J The type suggests that described by Denham and Clapperton as found among some of the Tibboos (Travels and

Discoveries in North Africa, vol. i. p. 139). It might be worth while to look for it on the road towards Lake Chad. The
Tibboos described by Lyon are very different.

72 LIBYAN NOTES

with the fine nose and well-shaped mouth. Again, where can the side-lock of the true
Libyan be seen on the slate palettes ? *

It may be objected that it is unfair to compare the productions of two such very
different schools of art as these. The objection would be amply justified if an attempt
were being made to compare or to contrast details of technique, or execution, or even
aesthetic conception. But in the case under consideration, the striking difi^erence
between the two ethnical portraits arises from no such accidental causes of variation ; it
is fundamental, rooted in the very core of the subject. What the sculptor and the
painter each set before him as his end was the realisation of a racial type. No one will
question the evident fidelity with which the sculptor pursued his aim ; while a glance
at the other portraits of natives which accompany that of the Libyan in the royal tombs
should put the intelligence and ability of the painter equally beyond all doubt.
Nothing would have been easier for him than to paint such a caricaturist's model as
is figured on the slate ; it is proved by his excellent pictures of Negroes. If instead
of this he produced a fine-featured European type, it must have been because such a
type alone corresponded to the original.f
Libyan and The discovery, which is due to the researches of Mr. A. J. Evans and of Professor

Egyptian script.

Flinders Petrie, that the alphabet contained in the numerous inscriptions which have
been found all over North Africa forms part of a single system common to Egypt and
Crete on the one side and Spain on the other, is one of the most important of recent
contributions to prehistoric archaeology. For over fifty years the subject of these
inscriptions has interested the attention of epigraphists. They have been found as far
east as the peninsula of Sinai and as far west as the Canary Islands ; J and though they
are most plentiful in the coast region of eastern Algeria, their range extends far south
into the Sahara. Of those which have been brought to light in Algeria and Tunis,
some are bilinguals,§ with Phoenician or with Latin versions, so that considerable

* Von Bary seems to have found the side-lock worn in the Air district, " Trois Kel-Fade monies k mehari sont
venus au village et m'ont rendu visite. Deux d'entre eux avaient de longues tresses pendantes telles que je n'en avals
jamais vu chez les Touareg ; I'un avait meme de chaque cote de la tete de petites houppes tress^es, qui lui donnaient un
air presque feminin. C'etaient de beaux hommes au teint blanc. Leur pays porte bien le nom de Kelfo." (Von Bary,
Dernier Rapport d'un Europeen sur P Oasis de Ghat, trad. Henri Schirmer, p. 157, cf. also p. 166.)

t It is somewhat anticipating the conclusions to be arrived at in Chap. XIV to state that the prehistoric and proto-
dynastic Egyptians were not Libyan by race, in spite of the intimate commercial connection. This, however, leaves us
free to express the opinion, which is in complete consonance with the anthropometrical results, that the men depicted on
the slates are the genuine prehistoric (but probably not the proto-dynastic) inhabitants of Egypt.

X See Mem. Soc. Arch, de Constantine, 1875, for their distribution as it was known up to that date.

§ The most famous of these is the bilingual of Tugga in Tunis, the original of which is now in the British Museum.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LIBYO-EGYPTIAN CONNECTION 73

progress has been made in the decipherment of their meaning. This point, however, is
unimportant for the present purpose except in so far as the undoubted occurrence of
typically Berber names confirms the view that the script was employed by the true
natives and not by any alien people on their soil. The fact that the letters are in the
main identical with those of the modern Touareg alphabet, which is still in use, affords
an interesting parallel to the survival of the prehistoric pottery of which so much has
been said in the present volume ; and justifies the hope that the original phonetic values
may to a great extent be recovered.

The most comprehensive of the various versions of this alphabet which appears in
the inscriptions, is that given by Faidherbe.* It consists of twenty-seven signs, of
which twenty-three are common to the Tugga inscription and the funerary stelae,t
while four are peculiar to Tugga.

The signs are as follows : —

Libyan Alphabet

v_>

1 r
II

s ©

^ z ^

1 L
X

n r

(

Into the vexed question of the exact phonetic values we do not propose to enter.

* Collection complete aes inscriptions numidiques.

t These are very numerous. The most interesting have been found in the Cheffia Valley near B&ne.

X Faidherbe has omitted one common sign, analogous to Nos. 2 and 3 ; it consists of four horizontal or vertical bars.

LIBYAN NOTES

The " Tifinagh " alphabet of the Touaregs was first discovered by the ill-fated
Dr. Oudney, who died on Denham and Clapperton's great expedition. He noted the
characters in the neighbourhood of Mourzouk in Fezzan, and described them in these
words.* " On almost every stone in places they frequent the Tuarick characters are
hewn out. It matters nothing whether the letters are written from the right to left or
vice versa or horizontally." f

A similar impartiality is characteristic of the Libyan inscriptions ; for that of Tugga
reads from right to left, while the funerary stelae in most cases read upwards, but
occasionally downwards. Oudney gives nineteen letters with their names, so that his
list is less complete than that of Hanoteau whose version is as follows

+
+

Tifinagh Alphabet

Phonetic Value
(French).

a, i, ou

n Au ''

z doux

Phonetic Value
(French).

>•■•

><^ gdoux

Phonetic Value
(French).

• •• k'

• r grasseye

a ch

3?}

ou long

long

Phonetic Value
(French).

^ Arabe

Arabe

* Denham and Clapperton, Travels and Discoveries in Northern ana Central Africa, vol. i. p. no (London, 1828).

t Mr. Evans, seeing that Oudney meant to describe three different methods, takes his words as applying to entire
lines and supposes " horizontally " to be a slip for " vertically." But may not Oudney have been speaking of the
individual letters ? In that case his words would be quite intelligible.

} Hanoteau, Grammaire Tamachek, Paris, i860.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LIBYO-EGYPTIAN CONNECTION 75
Some of these combine into composite forms, viz. —

TiFiNAGH Alphabet — Continued

H-B bt

ffl

+g oh,

•■•

nk*

The close similarity of the two alphabets is at once apparent. The " Tifinagh "
has undergone a few modifications, notably in respect of such signs as those numbered
16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, where what had been bars in the Libyan are replaced by dots
arranged in the same way. But the persistence of the forms for fully 2000 years
almost unchanged is a strong confirmation of the view that they are the survivals of a
system which is even some millenniums older, as is now to be explained.

Mr. Evans and Professor Flinders Petrie have shown that certain linear characters
which have been found on the prehistoric Egyptian pottery (especially on that of the
Polished red and Black-topped classes) from a signary in which a large number of the
characters are identical with the Libyan and the " Tifinagh " ; at least nineteen being
common to both series. Mr. Evans has further proved f that thirty-two of these
Egyptian signs coincide with the script which he discovered in Crete ; twenty of the

* The brothers Beechey, who were travelling in Tripoli at the same time that Denham and Clapperton were going
farther afield, remarked on certain stones near ZaiFran, what they describe as " unmeaning scrawls and some of those
marks which are used by the Arabs to distinguish their particular tribes" {Travels, London, 1828).

The "marks," with the names of the tribes to which they belong, are given as follows: —

Mogharbe.

Weled Abou-Saif.

Ouarghir.

Weled Suliman. Orfilli.

011 o A

Gedadfa. Hemamla. Zoazi.

^\\ A Q 9

Weled ben Miriam,

Zoeia.

Hassoun. Jebshia. Name forgotten.

t " Further discoveries of Cretan and Aegean Script " in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. xvii. Also published by
Quaritch, London, 1898.

76 LIBYAN NOTES

Cretan being also Libyan and " Tifinagh " forms. Moreover, he has shown a very close
similarity between entire sign-groups from Crete and Egypt.

On his side Professor Petrie* has demonstrated that these several series form part
of a uniform system, which, in historic times, extended from the most eastern to the
most western borders of the Mediterranean. For out of the sixty different characters
which appear in the Carian and Celtiberian alphabets, no less than forty-four are known
in Egypt at various periods. From the fact of so cumbrous an alphabet prevailing all
over the Mediterranean littoral in historic times, it is justifiably inferred that it was not
a late introduction, but a survival of the same which has just been described as existing
in Egypt before the reign of Menes.

The linear characters in Egypt are earlier than the hieroglyphs, though a few of
the forms may ultimately have been fused with the latter. Evolved at a date when
hieroglyphic writing was unknown, they persisted with a strange vitality and were never
absorbed or ousted.f The discovery that they form part of a great interrelated system
has revealed a wholly new view of the wide commercial relations which must have
existed between countries, some of which are generally conceived to have been the
abode of mere barbarians. It suggests that Libya and even Spain participated in the
culture of early Greece and Egypt, j;

Having now examined the chief arguments which have been adduced in favour of
an early Libyo-Egyptian connection, it will be well to summarise the results. Briefly,
then, it appears that, when the unsatisfactory evidence has been eliminated, the case
comes to be based on three points —

* Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xxix. (new series ii.), p. 204.

t They occur even as late as Roman times (Petrie, op. cit.), though the twelfth dynasty is probably the richest in
them, cf. Evans, Cretan Pictographs, London (Quaritch). It may perhaps be objected that as they arc known to have lasted
on so long, their introduction into Libya may have been comparatively late. The evidence is distinctly in favour of their
introduction or use in North Africa being contemporary with their first appearance in Egypt, but the other possibility
should not be lost sight of. It is the more necessary to be cautious as the use of the black-ornamented white pottery in
Libya (cf. Chap. X) shows the close connection of that country with Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean at so
advanced a period as the ninth century b.c.

J Those desirous of pursuing further the subject of the Libyan inscriptions are referred especially to —
Faidherbe, Collection complete des inscriptions numidiques.
Reboud, Recueil d^ inscriptions Libyco-Berberes.
Letourneux, Du dechiffrement des inscriptions Libyco-Berberes. (International Congress of Orientalists, Florence,

1878.)
M'emoires de la Soc. Arch, de Constantine, particularly the years 1869, 1875, 1878.
Halevy, Etudes Berberes.
Lastly — Tissot {Geographic comparee de la province romaine d' Afrique) gives a useful resume.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LIBYO-EGYPTIAN CONNECTION -jj

(i) The extraordinary and minute resemblance of the pottery.

(2) The close resemblance of the character and detail of the decorative art, as

exemplified chiefly by the patterns on the pottery.

(3) The existence, probably at a contemporary period, of the same script in both

countries.
These we consider are amply sufficient to establish the view that very intimate
relations existed between Libya and Egypt in prehistoric days, that is to say before the
Fourth Dynasty. The question next arises whether this connection was simply one of
commerce, or whether it is to be explained by an ethnical identity of the two
populations. In short, were the Egyptians of prehistoric Egypt, as has often been
assumed, of definitely Libyan stock ? This question can be answered only by anthro-
pometry, and we postpone its treatment until an account has been given of some of
those Libyan monuments which have supplied a part of the craniological material on
which the analysis of race depends.

CHAPTER XII

Rude Stone Monuments in Algeria

THE " SEnAm " NEAR MSILA BOU NOUARA BOU MERZOUG ROKn/a

QUESTION OF ORIGIN AND DATE

" Rude Stone Monuments," to adopt Fergusson's convenient phrase, are found all over
North Africa and are of frequent occurrence in Algeria. Nevertheless a somewhat
closer examination of the sites reduces the number of genuine instances considerably
below the ordinary estimate. Just as it has been found that many supposed prehistoric
monuments in Tripoli are nothing more remarkable than Roman oil-presses,* so there
can be little doubt that travellers in Algeria have sometimes failed to discriminate
between Roman and native work. But when all due allowance has been made for the
mistaken reports of careless observers, it must be admitted that a very large number
of true " rude stone " structures are to be seen in various parts of the country. Their
date may be matter of dispute, but their barbarian type is unquestionable. Unfortun-
ately so little excavation has been undertaken that it is by no means easy to assign
them to a precise period or race. As, however, we ourselves consider it probable that
they are of ancient date, and are convinced that they are the work of the native Libyans,
the present chapter is devoted to an account of four representative sites. One of these,
the Senam near Msila, has not, it seems, been previously described ; the other three, viz.,
Bou Nouara, Bou Merzoug, and Roknia are comparatively well known.
The Senam near The railway from Algiers passes through the small town of Bordj Bou Areridj,

which is situated about half-way between Beni-Mansour and Setif From Bordj Bou
Areridj a diligence runs due south in about seven hours to Msila, another small French
settlement. From Msila there is a mud track, which is at present being converted

* J. L. Myres in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Ser. ii., vol. xvii. p. 280 ff. (19th Jan. 1899).

PREHISTORIC NECROPOLIS AT "SENAm" NEAR MSILA.

PLATE XV.

JYorth

SCALE 1 : 100.

1. DIAGRAM OF THE CIRCULAR GRAVE CHARACTERISTIC OF THIS SITE.

2. A TYPICAL CIRCULAR GRAVE.

3. GENERAL VIEW, SHOWING SOME OF THE CIRCLES
AND THEIR NICHES.

4 NEAR VIEW OF THE NICHE CHARACTERISTIC
OF THESE CIRCLES.

5. THE DESTROYER AT WORK— REMOVING THE STONES
FOR ROADMAKING.

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA 79

into a fine road, as far as Baniou, beyond which a worse track leads through the sand to
Bou-Saada. At about a third of the distance from Msila to Baniou there is marked
on the map an artesian well called Bir (Puits) Souid. From this point a long low rise
can be seen about 10 kilometres to the W.N.W., which stands up conspicuously above
the level plain. This is the Senam*

The eminence, judging by eye, is about 400 or 500 yards long, and is covered all
over with numerous circles made of the natural unhewn slabs of the " shallow-water
limestone," which here suddenly crops up from the mud level. The circles are so thickly
placed that in many cases they almost abut on one another. They occupy the entire
crest and slopes of the rise and extend well down on to the level. From the highest
point we counted 120 clearly outlined. Many more were too much ruined to allow
of their limits being fixed, but it certainly would not be an excessive estimate to say
that there were in all several hundreds. In Plate XV. 3, is shown a general view of
the site ; in the background is a shanty erected by the sub-contractor, who was using
the place as a stone-quarry for his road. One of the most perfect circles is shown in
Plate XV. 2, and the diagram in Plate XV. i gives its characteristic features.

The circles were composed of the flat slabs of the natural rock turned on edge and
then bedded into the ground. Few admitted of close measurement ; three perfect
examples were respectively 23 feet 6 inches, 26 feet 9 inches, and 34 feet 4 inches in
diameter ; others were obviously a little larger and smaller than these, but their dimen-
sions could not be accurately taken. The slabs were of all sizes and heights according as
they had come most conveniently to hand, and were not very closely adjusted to one
another. In the first of the examples of which the diameter has just been stated two of
the largest stones measured respectively 4 feet long by 2 feet high from the ground,
and 5 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet 6 inches high, with a maximum thickness of 10
inches. In the third of the quoted examples the highest stone rose to about 3 feet from
the ground and was 2 feet 4 inches wide by 7 inches thick, and a fourth circle was of
a similar height.

The peculiar and invariable characteristic was that at a point in the circumference,
generally about S.E., but varying a little to the S. or to the E., there was a break in
the ring which was occupied by a peculiar niche. Such a niche is indicated in the
diagram (Plate XV. i) and a near view of a typical example is given in Plate XV. 4 ; it

* The Arabic word Senam is apparently applied indiscriminately to any collection of large stones and is no guide to
the character of a site which is so named.

8o LIBYAN NOTES

is composed of two slabs ^, a, about 4 feet apart, which are set in from the edge of the
ring and closed by a third slab, b, at right angles. In the first of the above-quoted
examples the length of the inset from the exterior of «, a, to the exterior of b, was 4
feet, the side slabs being i foot 6 inches high and 3 feet 4 inches apart. In the second
the inset was the same, but the distance between the side slabs was only 2 feet 6 inches.
In the third the inset was longer, viz. 5 feet 6 inches ; and the side slabs were 6 feet
apart at the point where they were flush with the outside of the ring, but only 4 feet
7 inches apart where they met the cross-slab. Whether these niches had ever been
fitted with covering-slabs was a question which could not be determined. Not a single
one of the entire number had such a slab in position when we visited the site, nor were
there traces of any having fallen off. However, the very intelligent Italian who was
then accompanying us positively stated, in answer to questions on the subject, that he
had formerly observed a covering slab in at least one case, prudently adding that he
could not tell whether it had not been placed there by Arabs. Certainly no one who
is familiar with the character of Arabs will suppose that they would unnecessarily lift
a very heavy stone and put it into such a position, unless there were a chance of gaining
money by so doing ; and accordingly this hypothesis may at once be dismissed. On
the other hand, it is very possible that when removing the stones for roadmaking (Plate
XV. 5), they found the covering slabs at a convenient height for shifting and therefore
took them before any others. It is very much to be regretted that the site had been so
despoiled before any observations could be made upon it, as the question whether the
niches were or were not covered over is of great importance for determining the relation
which these unique circles bear to the familiar dolmen-graves.

The illustrations and the diagram show how the interior of each ring was filled
with rough stones irregularly heaped and scattered. They may of course have been
disarranged by the Arab destroyers ; at present there is certainly so little sign of any
system that it is not easy to decide whether the original intention was to form a second
ring on the inside, or to make a central heap at some fixed distance from the exterior
circle, or simply to heap over the interior without any definite plan. We incline to
think that the last is the true view, as in the examples which seemed to be quite perfect
and intact there was no appearance of any more definite system than in those which
were ruined.

In general the circles seemed to stand in no particular relation to one another, but
one case was exceptional. The ring was about 29 feet in diameter and from the

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA 8i

outside of it there ran three radii like the spokes of a wheel, one going due E., one due
S., and one W.S.W. The radii were about 19 feet in length and composed each of
two rows of slabs set on edge about a foot apart. The stones in the immediate
proximity were too scattered for us to say whether the rows connected the circle with
any others.*

It remains to discuss the meaning of these singular structures. It will probably
be suggested that they were hut-circles ; but nothing is more improbable. Their
arrangement is such that they would have formed most inconvenient dwelling-places,
and is not at all like that of the ordinary hut-circle ; moreover, if this hypothesis were
accepted the peculiar niches would be meaningless. There can be little doubt that
this " Senam " is a great cemetery, and that the circles were graves. Similar circles
without the niche have been found in Apulia ;-j- in which case they proved to be
graves, while the hut-circles near them were quite different in arrangement. On the
Italian site it seems as though the builders had attempted to reproduce as nearly as
possible the form of a round barrow ; only the nature of the ground forced them to
employ dry stones instead of earth. The niche is the feature that it is difficult to
explain, but a glance at the plan of a Mycenaean " beehive " grave will show a very
suggestive resemblance.:|: In short, we consider that these circles of the " Senam " near
Msila are derived from some such type as that of the " beehive " graves, the gallery
leading into the latter being here replaced by a sort of false door above the
ground. §

Within and about the circles we picked up numbers of tiny black flints, many
of them worked, which must have been brought from a distance as there seems to be
no native flint on the spot.

At Tarmount, which is a short day's journey west of Msila, there are said to be
remains of a precisely similar character to those at the " Senam " just described.

The other three sites to be dealt with in this chapter are situated in a different Dolmens at

Bou Nouara.

part of the country, viz. in the immediate neighbourhood of Constantinc. They all

* Cf. M. Feraud's account of a similar arrangement at Bou Merzoug.

t See Giovanni Patroni, " Un villaggio siculo presso Matera " in Mon. Ant. viii.

I Again, the famous circle at Mycenae actually has an inset for entrance, very much like that of this " Senam."
See Schliemann, Mycenae and Tiryns (plan of the " Circular Agora with the five Royal Sepulchres ").

§ An interesting type, which may be regarded as intermediate, is seen in the stone remains at Hammam-Soukera in
Tunis. These consist of tower-like structures vaulted with rough blocks, an open dolmen forming a sort of entrance
outside. See "Monuments megalithiques de Tunisie," by Girard de Rialle in Bulletin des antiquites africaines,
vol. ii. p. 267.
M

82 LIBYAN NOTES

resemble one another in type, and are quite different from the " Senam " near
Msila ; though we are not prepared to say that they may not be ultimately derived
from the same form. There seems to be a certain observable progress in development,
Bou Merzoug and Roknia being certainly of a less advanced and perfected type than
Bou Nouara ; but the dolmens of the latter site are so comparatively intact and vv^ell
preserved that it is preferrable to describe them first.

Bou Nouara is a railvi^ay station on the line from Constantine to Guelma ; and
the dolmens, which are about a mile from the station, are so close to the line that
many of them can be well seen from the train. Nevertheless no traveller seems to
have been sufficiently impressed with their importance to take the trouble to excavate
there. A general idea of the appearance of the site may be gathered from the
photograph in Plate XVI. i.

The type of the graves is invariable ; it is that of a dolmen within a circle.
Regular and careful as the building of these often is, the stones composing them are
merely the natural unhewn blocks ; which are of a stone closely resembling, if not
identical, with that which occurred near Msila. The hill on which the necropolis
is placed extends for a considerable distance. We explored it for perhaps a mile, over
the whole of which space the ground was thickly covered with dolmens ; though they
did not appear to extend much, if at all, down on to the plain. There was no sign of any
systematic grouping, but the individual examples appeared to stand independently
each in its own place. Their orientation varied considerably and was evidently
determined as much by the trend of the ground as by any definite scheme. The
general lie of the hill was about N.W. and S.E., but it curved round considerably.
The graves were oriented sometimes N.W. and S.E., sometimes N. and S. ; but
the builders seem always to have avoided placing the dolmen in such a position that
the length of the covering slab should slope uphill. Possibly this was merely because
the run of the strata made it easier to lift the long slabs this way.

The photograph in Plate XVI. 5 gives the best idea of the complete form of one
of these graves. The dimensions and the details vary but the type of structure is
uniform. It consists of two parts — the enclosing circular platform and the dolmen
itself The circle is built up of two or three courses of stone blocks, carefully chosen
so as to lie evenly on the top of one another (Plate XVI. 2), which rise in the most
typical cases to a height of about 1.30 m. on the lower side where the ground falls
away. On the upper side the height is much less, generally only about 30 cm.

DOLMENS AT BON NOUARA.

PLATE XVI.

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA 83

{i.e. one course only). This arrangement is so contrived as to neutralise the slope of
the hill and make a sort of level platform ; so that the circles look almost like
diminutive towers from below, while, if viewed from above they hardly seem to
rise from the ground. The diameter is 6.50 m. in the smaller and 10 m, in the larger
examples, and there are all intermediate sizes.

The dolmen itself stands in the centre of the circle, and in the most typical cases
consists of a long slab placed on two entire side slabs. The ends at the back and
front are open in the somewhat ruined dolmen seen in Plate XVI. 5, but in the more
perfect examples they are closed. This is done in any one of three ways, viz. either
with an entire slab at each end or with an entire slab at one end, and small stones
at the other, or with small stones built up at each end. The last of these methods
is rather exceptional, and marks a distinct development. It belongs to graves of a
rather more advanced type, such as that of which the interior is shown in Plate XVI. 6,
where, instead of entire side slabs, there are regularly built up walls of carefully
selected stones. The dolmens are not placed on any sort of raised mound, but stand
up from the platform only by the height of their side walls or side slabs ; the lowest
that was measured rose to about 70 cm., the highest to about 1.50 m. from the ground.
The covering stone varied considerably in size, but averaged about 2 m. in length by
1.50 m. in breadth. In the example figured in Plate XVI. 6, the covering slab having
broken and fallen in, and the sides being exceptionally regular, it was possible to
measure the actual interior of the grave, which proved to be 1.30 m. in length by
85 cm. in breadth. The space between the outside wall of the circular platform and
the dolmen itself was filled with rough blocks. The last feature can be well observed
in Plate XVI. 4, where the stones are piled one on the top of the other right up to
the dolmen, but in most cases this stage had not been so elaborately and completely
carried out.

The spring of Bou Merzoug is about 7 kilometres distant from Oulad Rahmoun, Doimeus at

Bou Merzoug.

which can be reached by rail from Constantine in about an hour. It was from Bou
Merzoug that the Romans brought the water for their city of Cirta, and remains of
their masonry may still be observed there.

The low hill, at the foot of which the spring rises, is covered with innumerable
graves of rude stone, and many more extend down to the level of the valley. This
is one of the few sites of the kind in Algeria which have been to some extent explored.
Mr. Christy and M. Feraud spent several days here, during which time they examined

84 LIBYAN NOTES

more than looo graves and opened 13. An account of their results was published by
M. Feraud in the Notices et Memoir es de la Societe Archeologique de Constantine for 1863,
to which there will presently be occasion to refer.

Views of the hillside are given in our Plate XVII. i, 2. From these it will be
seen that the general character, both of the site and of the stone remains, is very similar
to that of Bou Nouara. The type of grave is essentially the same as that which has
been described in the last section, viz. a dolmen enclosed within a circle ; but there
are some very important differences of detail. Generally speaking, the graves at Bou
Merzoug are not in such good preservation, so that it is less easy to be quite certain
of minor features, but it is evident that they were not originally constructed with the
elaborate care that distinguishes those of Bou Nouara.

The exterior circles exhibit a form which may perhaps be regarded as transitional
between the type found at the Senam near Msila, and that at Bou Nouara. When
the stones composing them are unusually large and high they are merely set on edge
and form a single course. More often, however, there are two or three courses of
substantial oblong blocks placed one on the top of the other. These are much dis-
arranged and ruined, but it is not likely that they were ever so perfect as those of Bou
Nouara, nor that they rose to the same height. Three courses of stones would have
been the utmost attained at any time, judging from the very slight elevation of the
dolmen in the centre.

This entire description will sound very remarkable to those who are familiar with
the plan and elevation given in Fergusson's Kude Stone Monuments (woodcut 169) ; but
it should be stated at once that the woodcut in question represents nothing better than
a product of the author's imagination. Fergusson candidly states that he has been
" obliged to take some liberties with M. Feraud's cuts." The result is most unfortunate
as the reader of his work is given the impression that the graves of Bou Merzoug are
lofty tumuli, surrounded at various stages of their height with rings of stones and
crowned with dolmens. Nothing can be further from the reality. The elevation of
the dolmens above the natural level of the ground is generally less than a metre, the
height, that is to say, of their supporting side-walls. The concentric circles are all on
the same plane, and rise to at most two or perhaps three courses of stones from the
ground-level. Finally, though such interior circles undoubtedly exist, it is by no means
easy to discriminate them from the aimlessly scattered stones, or to exactly determine
their number.

DOLMENS AT BOU MERZOUG AND ROKNIA.

PLATE XVM.

1. BOU MERZOUG.

2. BOU MERZOUG.

3. BOU MERZOUG.

4. BOU MERZOUG.

6. ROKNfA.

rrf ,11'

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA 85

An unusually perfect example of one of these graves, which admitted of detailed
study, consisted of (a) an outer circle 8 m. in diameter ; (^) a well-defined inner circle
4.40 m. in diameter ; and (c) the dolmen itself in the centre of all, which was 1.50 m.
long by 1 ,40 m. wide. Between (a) and {If) and between {l>) and {c) was a more or less
irregular and ill-defined circle of smaller rough stones. This tallies closely with M.
Feraud's plan which shows four concentric circles. It was rare, however, to find an
example of which the construction could be determined so precisely. Ordinarily the
stones were so scattered that it could only be positively asserted that there was an outer
enclosure and a dolmen, with a number of stones between the two. It is very probable
that six-and-thirty years ago the graves were more perfect ; for though we do not know
of any such wholesale destruction as was taking place near Msila, the site would form
a tempting quarry for any person who wanted material for road-making or building.
Moreover, in estimating the chances of destruction it must be remembered that the
Romans needed stone for their works at the spring head ; and even the original builders
may sometimes have despoiled a neighbouring grave to obtain the materials for a
new one.

The circles varied in size, but 8 m. appeared to be the average diameter. The
dolmens were supported on side-walls which did not (as in the most typical examples
at Bou Nouara) consist of entire slabs, but of several large rough stones, the intervals
between which were filled in with smaller pieces. This system corresponds to that
found in the rather exceptional grave (Plate XVI. 6) at Bou Nouara, but the construc-
tion was very rough and far inferior to what has been described in that case. The
orientation was sometimes E. and W., sometimes N. and S. ; there appeared to be no
fixed system-.

In Plate XVII. 4 is shown the rectangular chamber which contains the grave.
The example figured here is very probably one of the graves which were actually
opened by Mr. Christy and M. Feraud, as the dolmen has been much destroyed and
the interior laid open. The side-walls were made of unusually large blocks, of which
the smoothest face has been turned inside, so that they present a very regular appearance ;
but neither these nor any other stones used in the construction of the graves were
hewn, squared, or worked in any way.

The number of the graves must have been many hundreds. As at the " Senam,"
near Msila, they were very closely packed ; and we were not able to distinguish any
system of arrangement. M. Feraud, however, in a passage which has attracted much

86 LIBYAN NOTES

attention, describes the graves as linked together by lines : " Ces lignes sont de simples,
doubles ou triples rangees de grosses pierres de 0.40 m. a 0.60 m. d'epaisseur, plantees
en terre et formant des allees decouvertes qui relient entr'eux les dolmens, les tumulus
et les cromlechs comme le fil unit les grains d'un chapelet."* We did not ourselves
observe this ; but there is nothing improbable in the arrangement, which indeed corre-
sponds in some degree to indications that we noted at the " Senam," near Msila
(cf. sup.).

In and about the graves on the side of the hill we picked up numerous small
black flints, many of which were worked. They were exactly of the same kind as
those found at the Senam near Msila ; and, as has been remarked in that case, they
would seem to have been brought from a distance, as there was no trace of any native
flint on the site.

The following is an epitome of the thirteen graves opened by Mr, Christy and
M, Feraud : —

1. Orientation, N.W. and S.E. Length of covering slab, 2.15 m. ; breadth, 1.40 m. ; thickness
0.35 m. Height of side-walls, 0.80 m. ; length, 1.90 m. ; thickness, 0.25 m. Width of slab which
closed the dolmen on north side, i.io m. ; height, 0.80 m. Interior length of dolmen, 1.19 m.
The enclosing circle was 12 m. in diameter. Grave contained human bones, which crumbled to
dust when it wa's opened.

2. Three circular enclosures, the outermost of which was 12.20 m. in diameter. In centre was
a trench formed by two stages of stones and covered not with a slab but with large heaped stones.
Breadth of trench was 1.17 m., length 2.00 m., depth 1.50 m. At depth of 1.20 m. inside the
trench was a bed of little slabs under which were —

Human bones.

Broken pottery.

Bones of a horse.

Fragments of charcoal.

A buckle, ring, and earring, all of copper.

3. A " cromlech " of similar dimensions to the last. The enclosure was square, not round. In
the grave were human bones but nothing else.

4. Circular enclosure of 12 m. diameter; " Plusieurs etages de pierre superposees et
formant tumulus." In centre a dolmen oriented N. and S. ; its chamber was 2.20 m. long by
I.IO m. broad. Inside at depth of 0.50 m. was a bed of flat slabs under which were human bones
in a condition too bad to admit of the position of the body being determined. At the feet were
found the bones and teeth of a horse and an iron bit.

* As far as can be gathered, this passage refers only to the graves on the plain. On the hillside there is hardly
room for such a disposition.

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA 87

Also there were found —

A buckle and a ring, both of iron.

A ring, a plaque, and an earring, all of copper.

Fragments of worked flints.

Fragments of pottery of a very good paste.

A bronze medal of Faustina.

5. A dolmen. The grave inside it measured only 1.18 m. long by 0.62 m. broad. Contained
human bones.

6. Circular enclosure of 17 m. diameter. In centre a dolmen oriented N. and S. At a
depth of 0.40 m. was a bed of slabs covering the body.

Contents of grave were —

A copper ring.

Fragments of pottery.

7. A small dolmen, dimensions not given. Grave contained bones.

8. Enclosure of 7 m. diameter. Grave was a trench covered with a slab 2.50 m. long by
1.80 m. broad without side-walls. Underneath the slab was a "coffin"* of which the length was
1.30 m., breadth 0.90 m., depth 0.60 m. It contained —

Human bones.
Four pots.
Shells.

9. Square enclosure of 8 m. diameter. Dolmen faced N.W. and S.E. and its side-walls
were made of several courses of stones. The chamber was 1.50 m. long by 0.60 m. broad.
Contained —

Bones and small pots.

What is described as a stone axe, made of limestone.

10. Covering slab 2.25 m. long by 1.60 m. broad and 0.40 m. thick. The trench, oriented
N. and S., was 1.60 m. long by 0.60 m. broad and i.io m. deep. The " coffin " was formed of large
stones placed regularly, and contained —

A human skeleton in good condition, buried in the contracted position with

knees to chin and arms crossed.
Two pots.

Fragments of cedar wood and pottery.
At the feet were two more human heads, and as there was no room for more than one body M.
Feraud inferred that they belonged to decapitated victims.

11. Circular enclosure of 8 m. diameter. Trench i.oo m. long by 0.60 m. broad and
0.55 m. deep. Covering slab 1.50 m. square and supported on two courses of stones.

Grave contained —

A skeleton in good condition, the posture contracted as in No. 10.

Pots.

Charcoal.

* " Sarcophage." M. Feraud's term is not to be taken au pied de la lettre, as appears from his description of grave lo.

88 LIBYAN NOTES

At the feet of the entire skeleton were fragments of a second head as in No. lo.

12. Square enclosure, the length of the sides being 7 m. A square trench the length of
the sides being 0.90 m. Contained —

Bones.
Charcoal.

13. Similar to 12.

The dolmens Roknia is a place well known to tourists in Algeria. At the present day it is very

ot Roknia.

easy of access; though when General Faidherbe undertook his excavations in 1867*
it might well be considered remote from all ordinary routes. Hammam Meskoutin is
about four hours' distant by rail from Constantine, and Roknia is some twelve kilometres
from the station. A beautiful bridle path leads over meadows blazing with wild flowers,
and slopes clothed with jujubier and broom, to the site of the dolmens. These are
now terribly ruined ; time has destroyed much and the excavator and the tourist have
done their share. For a detailed account of the site as it appeared thirty-three years
ago, the reader is referred to General Faidherbe's treatise.

The tombs, which stand on the side of a steep hill overgrown with copse (Plate
XVII. 5), seem to be generically of the same kind as those which have just been
described at Bou Merzoug. In their present condition it is most difficult to describe
them accurately ; and but for our experience on the other sites we should have hardly
felt justified even in stating that the dolmens had been surrounded with regular
enclosures. From the position of the scattered stones, however, we thought it probable
that at least in some cases an exterior circle had existed. Fortunately the point is
decided by Faidherbe's categorical statement — " Quelques-uns d'entr'eux sont entoures
d'un rond en pierres levees de huit a dix metres de diametre." The most important and
characteristic feature of the dolmens themselves is that they are supported generally on
single entire slabs,t and never on built-up courses of stones. Faidherbe noted that many
of them were apparently arranged in definite order, viz. in continuous lines including
some thirty examples in each. He considered, moreover, that there were traces of tool-
work on the stones. If this was really the case it at once distinguishes Roknia from
any of the other sites that we have described, but probably the general was mistaken.

* Published in Bulletin de I'Academie d'Hippone, i868.

t Faidherbe certainly generalises too much when he says, " Assez souvent les petites c6tes de la tombe sont formes par
une seule pierre chacun, tandis que les longs cotes le sont toujours ou presque toujours par plusieurs.'' But this is a point
of minor importance compared to the fact which he states and which we observed that there are never courses of
stones in the side-walls.

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA

These weathered blocks certainly look far more natural than the unworked but carefully
selected slabs of the Bou Nouara graves.

In Plate XVII. 6 is shown a typical example of a dolmen at Roknia oriented
W.S.W. and E.N.E.* The covering stone measured 1.80 m. in length by 1.40 m.
in breadth and was 0.30 m. thick ; its height was 1.40 m. from the ground. Originally
the dolmen must have been walled up in front like those which Faidherbe describes,
but the stones have been removed ; round it was an ill-defined circle of stones, which
was not more and might have been a little less than 9 m. in diameter.

The following is an inventory of the contents of the tombs excavated by
Faidherbe —

I. Skull No. 1 1 which has a hole, evidently
from a wound, above the left eye.
Skull No. 9.

Fragments of another skull.
Skull of a child.

The only tomb furniture was one broken pot.J

Four lower jaws without skulls.
Six femurs more or less complete.
An ulna, a radius, a tibia, and fragments of
other bones.

2. Skull No. 3.
Skull No. 6.
Four femurs.

A tibia, a humerus, an ulna, and fragments
of other bones.

The heads were at the north end and faced east. No pots.

Three skulls (broken and therefore not

in the plates).
A femur.

Three tibiae.
Two humeri.
One radius.

Heads were at north end, and the most complete of the two skeletons was in the contracted

posture, its head facing west.
One pot with an embryo handle.

Skull No. 14.
Skull No. 17.
A broken femur.
A broken tibia.
One pot.

Broken skull.

Broken femur of unusual dimensions.

One broken pot.

6. Two skulls, one of which is No. 18.
Three femurs, one of which was broken.
A fragment of a pelvis.

An undersized tibia.
A pot.

7. A thin broken skull.
The jaw of a child.

* Faidherbe's graves were oriented N. and S. in the few cases where he has made any observation on the points
of the compass. The heads were at the north end, feet at south.

t The numbers assigned to the skulls correspond to the numbering in our Plates XVIII. and XIX.

1 Faidherbe gives illustrations of the pottery, which is very undistinctive. It all looks from the drawings as though
it h.id been made on the wheel.

90 LIBYAN NOTES

8. Large broken skull.
One femur.
One humerus.
Broken bones.
A vertebra of an animal.

9. Contained no less than seven skulls, these are No. 4 (with a wound in left brow), No. 5,
No. 8 (with wound in right parietal), and four broken, which are not represented. The bones
were all broken. There were seven pots, one being of a quite advanced type.

10. Skull No. 2, on which Faidherbe remarks that it was of a very peculiar colour, viz.

bright yellow.
Skull of a child of the same peculiar yellow.
Jaw of a man.

Two femurs and some fragments of bones, all of the same yellow colour.
Two pots.

Seven femurs.

A tibia.

Two coxal bones ; and parts of ilia.

11. Skull No. 12.
Skull No. 13.
Skull No. 10.

12. Skull II.

Broken skull of small child.
A femur and an ulna.

13. A broken skull ; and a jaw which was that of an old person,
A pot which contained pieces of bronze * bracelets.

14. No skulls.
A pot.

A bronze ring, probably earring.

The bones of 13 and 14 got confused in the working. There were two femurs, one
humerus and other bones.

The skulls numbered as 7, 15, 19, 20, come from other graves which are not
entered in this inventory. All the skulls are reproduced in our Plates XIX. XX.f They
have been very carefully copied from the drawings which accompany Faidherbe's
treatise, and have been rearranged for convenience of reference. The original number-
ing, however, is kept. Elaborate measurements of them were taken, but only a few
are of any interest or value ; they are reproduced in the following table : —

* Analysed as copper, 0868 ; tin, 0109 ; i.e. about the composition of good classical bronzes.

t Faidherbe's treatise is now so scarce as to be almost unobtainable. We think, therefore, that it is justifiable as well
as useful to reproduce these skulls, which represent almost the whole of the craniological material that has come out
of the rude stone graves in Algeria.

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA

188

181

190

182

178

186

178

182

190

173

182

18?!

1.83

i8s

18S

175

182

180

188

181

138

138
142
128

138

13+
146
142
136

13+
138
135
•35
137
138
134
135

119
no
no

114
no
98
100
103
104

130
128

134
124
118

125

125
130

5°

48
44

52
48

46
50

•a

•5

37
41
38
38

41
43

42
38

ii.,468

1,500

1,538

1.330

1,450

1,275

1,300

1,270

1,300

1,250

■a

734

897

801

850

726

829

780

825

719

946

829

842

758

842

705

844

...

780

743

732

746

730

805

771

884

753

767

713

762

746

816

The pelvis was invariably broken, and it was
therefore impossible to distinguish the sei with
certainty. From the smallness of the dimen-
sions it is clear that Nos. 5, 7, 10, 16 are
women.

Unfortunately, as Faidherbe does not give
the breadth of the nose, it is impossible to tell
what is the figure of the nasal index, which
is a very valuable racial characteristic.

There were no bronze objects found with
the specimens which are given in this series.

The extraordinary difference in the Cephalic
Index of the specimens is at once apparent.
It varies from 844 to 705. There seems, how-
ever, to be a median type represented by such
examples as No. i and No. 8.

The four sites that have been described in this chapter may be taken to fairly
represent the rude stone monuments of Algeria. Very many others have been reported
to exist,* but until they have been more systematically examined it is useless to
attempt any pronouncement upon them. The most important excavations undertaken
anywhere apart from Bou Merzoug and Roknia seem to have been at Djelfa, where
some fine polished celts were found.f

The question now presents itself, what is the date of these remains and to what Origin and date

of these rude stone

race should they be ascribed ? There are various current theories, of which the ex- monuments,
tremes are represented on the one side by those who consider the remains to be pre-
historic, and on the other by those who assign them to Roman or even to Vandal times.
The former view receives support from the occurrence of numerous worked flints, the
latter from the discovery of bronze ornaments and even of a single medal of Faustina.
One point seems to us to be quite certain ; and that is that these structures are of
genuine native origin. They are not Roman in character, and there is no sufficient
reason for ascribing them to any other foreign race. They are too numerous as well
as too widely disseminated to be the work of the Vandals ; even apart from the fact
that stones so weathered as those of Roknia look many centuries older than this

* See the Memoires de la Societe Arch'eologique de Constantine, from the year 1863 onwards.

t The excavations were made by M. Reboud ; and apparently the results were published in the Revue Africaine,
but we have been unable to find a copy. In the Pitt-Rivers Museum at Oxford are some casts of the celts from Djelfa.

92 LIBYAN NOTES

hypothesis would make them. The same objections are fatal to the suggestion that
they may be due to the barbaric influence of Gaulish mercenaries in the Roman
armies.

Foreign influences need not be invoked nor unknown invasions postulated to
explain the existence of these dolmens and circles.* It has been frequently pointed
out that they are simply the prototypes of such indubitably native monuments as the
Madrassen and the so-called " Tombeau de la Chretienne." f On a vast scale and
with all the accessories of architectural ornament these colossal piles reproduce the
exact type of the humble graves of Bou Nouara and Bou Merzoug. It is therefore
only reasonable to regard the latter as a genuine product of the native Libyan
culture.

The problem of their date is much more complex. It is certainly not fair to
lay too much stress upon the finding of the medal of Faustina at Bou Merzoug.
M, Feraud does not clearly state whether it was found quite within the grave, and
in such a position as to exclude the possibility that it had fallen in with rubbish from
the top. The Romans built works at the springhead of Bou Merzoug, which is within
a few hundred paces of almost any of these graves ; so that in their time the spot must
have been frequented by many persons, and the medal may have been dropped by
accident. No such theory, however, will explain the occurrence of bronze J in a large
percentage of the graves that have been opened. Moreover, not only bronze but iron
was found in grave 4 at Bou Merzoug and also at Djebel Madid § in the neighbour-
hood of the Hodna ; while much of the pottery from Roknia and other sites looks
suspiciously well made.|| On all these grounds then we are driven to admit that
some at least of these graves are of the iron age and perhaps even contemporary with
the Roman occupation.

Granting then that their latest limit is approximately fixed and falls within the iron
age, the question is. What is the earliest date to which any of them can go back ? This

* In one case a stele with Libyan inscription formed part of a circle. But the student is warned that the pictures
of it have been falsified. See Reboud, Recueil d' Inscriptions, p. 29.

t The " Tombeau de la Chr£tienne " is now universally considered to be the mausoleum of the last kings of
the Mauretania, the " monumentum commune regiae gentis " of Pomponius Mela. The immense size of both these
monuments precludes the suggestion that they were the work of any except powerful monarchs who possessed great wealth
and could command unlimited labour.

\ The Libyans who invaded Egypt in the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties had weapons and vessels of bronze,
as is proved by the lists of the spoil in the inscriptions of Karnak and Medinet-Habu.

§ Memoires de la Societe Archeologique de Constantine, 1869.

11 We judge only from the illustrations, not having seen the originals.

RUDE STONE MONUMENTS IN ALGERIA 93

depends very much upon the length of time that the use of stone implements survived
among the Libyans. The tiny black flints of Bou Merzoug and of the Senam near
Msila are neolithic in type ; so too are the polished celts from Djelfa. If, therefore,
they occurred by themselves we should be justified in classing such sites as purely
neolithic ; though it would be necessary to remember that the neolithic period may
have lasted on much later in Algeria than in Egypt or Europe. But at Bou Merzoug
M. Feraud found worked flints in the same grave with iron and copper ornaments.
It is only one case, and the flints may have fallen in from the top surface ; * but it
suggests at least the possibility that stone implements were still being used at a time
when iron was well known in neighbouring countries.

One point, however, must be insisted on in this connection as it might easily
be overlooked. The sites which have been excavated, as well as those which have
been left intact, are crowded with many hundreds of graves. So few of these have
been opened that in no single case has it been possible to acquire an idea of the
character of the whole cemetery ; and it is very possible that only the latest of the
graves have been opened while the earliest have been left untouched. This view
receives much countenance from a study of the ground at Bou Merzoug. There the
graves were very thick on the hillside and much more scattered on the plain. Nothing
is more likely than that the earliest dolmen-builders began at the top of the hill, and
only covered the side slopes and the level ground when all available space on the top
had been exhausted. Mr. Christy and M. Feraud, it would seem, worked chiefly if
not entirely upon the graves on the plain and at the bottom of the hill. It is very
probable, therefore, that their results give a just idea only of the latest and not of the
earliest period represented on the site. The earliest of these graves may be many
hundred years older than those in which bronze was common and iron sometimes
occurred. Far smaller cemeteries in the Egyptian desert contain tombs which are
separated from one another in date by several centuries or even by a thousand
years.

In any case, whatever may be the absolute date of these dolmens or circles, there
can be no doubt that their generic type is very ancient. Just as the Libyans of the
bronze or iron age built their tombs, must their ancestors have built them from the
remotest times. The confederated tribes that swept down on Egypt in the nineteenth
and twentieth dynasties would have buried their dead in graves very similar to those

* The reader will remember that this is the same grave in which the medal of Faustina was found.

94 LIBYAN NOTES

described in this chapter ; and probably they derived the tradition of them from
their forefathers who were contemporary with the prehistoric inhabitants of the Nile
valley. It is therefore highly significant that no trace of any of these constructions
which are so frequent in Algeria has yet been found in Egypt. We have seen
(Chaps. X. and XL) that such close coincidences exist between the earliest civilisation
of the two countries as can only be explained by supposing either that a close and
constant intercourse was maintained between them, or else that the population of
both was racially identical. But if primitive peoples are tenacious of their artistic
traditions they are still more tenacious of their burial customs. How is it then if
the prehistoric Egyptians were Libyan by race that they never used dolmens or
circles ? The burial practice of the Libyans links them to the early European races
and to the Amorites of Syria ; but it isolates them completely from the inhabitants
of Egypt of any period whether early or late.

Note. — It is to be hoped that excavations conducted in a systematic manner and on a large scale may be soon under-
taken on such sites as these. Europe owes much to French anthropologists, and in the domain of prehistoric archaeology
French savants have held a leading place. Is it too much then to hope that they will make an effort to remove the
uncertainty in which the origin and date of these remains are involved 'i Enormous sums are yearly expended by the
liberality of the Government upon the excavations of interesting but after all very late and somewhat debased Roman
buildings. Were a fiftieth part of the amount to be devoted to the working of the dolmen sites the whole problem might
be resolved. The opening of a dozen or two graves is almost useless ; what is needed is a series of not less than fifty from
each of several representative places. If we might be allowed to make a suggestion with regard to the choice, it would be
that Bou Nouara, Bou Merzoug, the Senam near Msila (or else Tarmount) and Djelfa would probably best repay
excavation.

PLATE XVIII.

Skulls from the Dolmens of KoknIa. After Fa, d bevbe.

N-

N^2

N-3

N= 3-

N=4-

N = l

N = 2^

N23-

N = 4'

N^ 5

N-5-

N-6

N^Z

N°7-

N-8

N2 8-

N2 5-

N26'

N27-2

N2 6-

PLATE Xi;

OKULLS FROM THE DoLMENS OF RoKN

I A .

AfteT FavidKerbc.

N2 9

N2 lO

N^ 15

N2|2

N2|3

N2 I I

N- 14

033*^

N-16

N^ 20

N^IS

N2|7

N220'

N2|9

CHAPTER XIII

OBSERVATIONS AND STATISTICS ON THE PHYSICAL TYPE OF THE BERBERS

In a previous chapter some general remarks have been made upon the physical type
of the Berbers ; it is now time to enter into a more detailed account. One of the chief
objects of our journey was to obtain a reliable series of anthropological observations
of genuine native Berbers. To do this it was necessary to exercise some care and
forethought, and to avoid as centres of work all French settlements and all places where
there was the slightest ground to suspect the disturbing influences of an alien population
whether European, Arab, or negro. Thus in the Aures we measured no individuals
at Menaa, where there is known to have been a Roman colony ; and in Kabylia we
studiously avoided the immediate proximity of Fort National, Bougie, Tizi-ouzou,
and all such places, where, though there is very much of the native element, there is
also a strong foreign admixture. The special work was all done at three places
in the Aures, viz. El Arbaa, Bou Zina, and El Baali ; and at two places in Kabylia, viz.
Ighil Ali (with Tazairt) east of the Sahel, and Tamaosht, which is west of the Sahel,
some eighteen or twenty miles from Fort National. The details of the measurements
and observations are set forth in the tables which accompany the present chapter, which
are followed by six plates (XX. to XXV.) containing the majority of our anthropological
portraits.*

In riding over a very considerable tract of country it was of course possible to make
a great many ocular observations. These cannot compete in accuracy with the more
careful notes taken at the places just mentioned, but they may be used as auxiliary
to the latter for the purpose of establishing general conclusions.

* The negatives of these and of most of our other photographs which have any anthropological value will be
deposited before September 1901 at the British Museum Bureau of Ethnology. They will there be available for the use
of students, under the regulations prescribed by the Bureau.

96 LIBYAN NOTES

Two very important questions on which exact information was much needed are

(i) The skin-colour of the Berbers
(2) The prevalence of blondness.

These have frequently been treated as if they were the same thing ; hence much of
the confusion in which the subject has been involved.

Skin colour. As to the first we have no hesitation in saying emphatically that the Berbers

are white men. Our Chawia and Kabyles might be described almost exactly in the
terms that Lyon has used to characterise the Touaregs * : " They are generally white,
that is to say, comparatively so, the dark brown of their complexions being only
occasioned by the heat of the climate. Their arms or bodies (where constantly
covered) are as white as those of many Europeans." f

These words may be applied to the Berbers of Algeria without even the slight
qualifications that Lyon inserts. They are always white, and quite white, except for the
tan with which sun and wind and dirt darken their faces and hands. \ We started at
first to carefully test the skin tint on several parts of the body and face, but soon
gave it up as quite superfluous ; for of over 100 men whom we examined minutely,
and many hundreds whom we observed in passing, not one could be technically
described even as " dark- white." Nearly three centuries ago John Leo referred to the
" AfFricani bianchi " ; and it is a striking example of human perversity that his
translator Pory should have rendered the epithet as "tawny," and that the Algerian
Berbers should still frequently be spoken of as a " brown " race.

The prevalence The qucstion of the prevalence of blondness among the Berbers of North Africa

has attracted much attention. § Tissot and Faidherbe are the chief authorities on the
subject. In 1 876 Tissot stated || that his experience, confirmed by that of Sir John
Drummond Hay, showed that the blonds of Morocco numbered fully a third of the
entire population. Further, he considered this estimate to be below the mark as regards
the Berbers, since it was formed on a mixed population including dark non-Berber stocks.
The true proportion, in his opinion, was to be judged rather by the Riffian colony in

* It need hardly be remarked that the Touaregs are pure Berbers.

+ Lyon, Travels in North Africa, 1821. Cf. the passing remarks of Barth on the Amoshagh, Travels in Africa
chaps. X. xiii. and xiv. Similarly von Bary describes a Touareg chief as "trSs blanc de teint."

\ Let the whitest-skinned of Europeans constantly expose his arms and neck say to an Egyptian sun for a few weeks
only, and he will quickly realise how much difference is made by mere sun-colour.

§ See for a resume of the subject, Ripley, Races of Europe.

II Revue d'' Anthropologic for 1876, " Les monuments megalithiques du Maroc et les populations blondes du Maroc '' ;
cf. the comments by Broca in the same number.

PHYSICAL TYPE OF THE BERBERS 97

Tangiers, in which two-thirds of the individuals were blond or fair ("blond et
chatain").* This is very positive ; as an antidote to it may be quoted the statement of
Rohlfs : " I am sure that no one has travelled about Morocco more than I, and I never
but once found a light-eyed and fair-haired man."t

It is easier to overlook than to observe ; Tissot, from his position, had every oppor-
tunity of knowing, but the opinion of such a man as Rohlfs is not to be lightly set
aside. It is obvious at any rate that there is a conflict of evidence. We should be the
more ready to believe Tissot implicitly were it not that his statement with regard to
Algeria J {Geographic de la Province romaine (TAfrique) is almost certainly inaccurate. But
he was apparently dealing with second-hand material in the case of Algeria, whereas he
spoke as an eye-witness about Morocco. It is very much to be regretted that the diffi-
culty of penetrating among the Berber tribes of the latter country has prevented the
acquirement of more definite information.

On the other hand, Faidherbe's remarks about the Berbers of Algeria § are admir-
able. With regard to blondness he wrote : " Nous reconnaissons, au milieu d'une
grande majorite au cheveux et aux yeux noirs, un certain nombre d'individus aux
cheveux blonds ou chatains et aux yeux bleus ou au moins de teinte claire. . . .|| La
proportion des blonds aux bruns pourrait etre moyennement et ' grosso modo ' evaluee au
dixieme. Elle varie d'un tribu a I'autre." This corresponds precisely with our own
observations. The proportion of blond or fair individuals certainly varies very per-
ceptibly in different districts, but in making a general estimate of the country we had
passed through we put it down at roughly i o per cent ; this was before leaving Algeria
and before we had read Faidherbe's paper.

The tables which accompany this chapter give the exact statistics as far as concerns
the 107 men whom we measured. As, however, it is desirable to have an estimate over
a larger number and the different places varied a good deal, it may be as well to give
extracts from our journals showing what was our opinion with regard to various villages
when on the spot and free from any preconception or theory.H

* " Les deux tiers de la colonie rifaine etablie a Tanger se composent d'individus appartenant aux types blond et
chatain. Le dernier tiers presente un type brun qui rappelle celui du sud-ouest de la France."

t Quoted by Ratzel, Hist, of Mankind, vol. iii. p. 245. We have been unable to trace the original passage.

t " Les blonds sont nombreux dans la grande Kabylie et dans I'Aur^s. On cite des tribus dont tous les individus
naguere encore appartenaient ^ ce type." We find it very hard to believe this last sentence.

§ Aper^us ethnographiques sur les Numides.

II The omitted sentence merely refers to Morocco.

IT These are ocular impressions, independent of, though no doubt a little influenced by, our observations on the men
whom we measured.

98 LIBYAN NOTES

ElArbaa. — "The predominant features are black (brown-black) hair, hazel or brown
eyes, a fair skin always a good deal sunburned where exposed, and broad faces. Of a
group of twenty men no less than four were perfectly blond. We saw no single
man who would be classed as an Arab " *

Bou Zina. — " Were struck with the uniformity of type as far as skin, hair, and
eyes go. The most noticeable variation was in the breadth of the face, some (probably
the majority) being quite broad-faced, and others quite narrow-faced. Also the noses
varied greatly. With regard to colour the combination of black hair with brown or
hazel eyes and fair red-white skin was so constant as to be a well-established type,
from which the blond hair and blue eyes are the exception."

El Baali. — " Suspect a Roman influence here,f notably in the one or two broad-
headed men, who had at the same time Roman features. Colouring in general and
hair same as in other Chawia villages. No blond men here."

" The general type in all the villages that we have visited is homogeneous. We
see not the least reason for saying, as a French writer does, that El-Arbaa shows a
markedly different type from other villages."

Ighil Alt and Taza'irt. — "Judging from this village the race-stock is certainly
identical with the Chawia ; and in this village they seem to be neither darker nor
lighter on the whole than the Chawia. As in the Aures all are white-skinned, and
there is a considerable proportion of fair-haired people, some being blond. A good
deal of variety in noses ; most of them show the element of nose No. i , but few have
it pure ; there are a good many slightly curved and a fair number of concave. We had
one or two cases of curly hair, but the normal type of the Aures (straight or with a
slight wave) prevails."

On the road from Taza'irt to Gelaa. — " We passed a number of fair men amongst the
people on the road to-day, and they certainly seemed to be in the preponderance."

Gelaa. — " As to type the people are the same that we have noted both among the
Chawia and at Ighil Ali, but certainly seem to average fairer. We estimate that quite
half the population has brown or blond hair." j:

With regard to other villages no special entry was made in our journals. Those

* This was especially noted, as El-Arbaa was the first Berber village that we visited. Hereafter the observation is
omitted as superfluous.

t It was in the Wed Abdi near Menaa.

X The theory that renegade Europeans have sensibly altered the type of race in North Africa generally is palpably
absurd ; but they may have had some influence on Gelaa which has always been a sort of city of refuge.

PHYSICAL TYPE OF THE BERBERS 99

that have been remarked on may be regarded as fairly typical of the whole

number.

For the measurements of head and limbs the reader is referred to the tables which The measure-
ments and tables.

follow. We will do no more in this place than point out that the cephalic index in
spite of considerable variations falls normally just on the border line between mesati-
cephalic and sub-dolichocephalic.

A word must be said here about the measurements taken, the degree of accuracy
to be expected from them, and the methods on which they are tabulated.

The measurements taken on the head and face may be trusted to be as accurate as
a good instrument, careful observation, and unusually favourable conditions of work, can
make them. With regard to manipulation the callipers * were allowed to work fairly
easily, one end against the head of the man, the other lightly grazing the skin. For two
measurements, however, the callipers were pressed right home ; these were the bigonial
breadth and the bizygomatic breadth, where the flesh and skin would otherwise
disproportionately enlarge the dimensions.

The stature and the length of the limbs are, for reasons which any field-anthropo-
logist will readily appreciate, far less accurate ; indeed we should hardly like to call
them more than approximate, though they were taken with the greatest care which
the circumstances allowed. But an uneven floor disturbed the estimate of stature, the
folds of a burnous hindered the span of the arms ; and sometimes a garment, of which
its owner refused to divest himself, made it impossible to quite accurately judge the height
of the shoulder. Such as they are, however, the anthropologist will probably be grateful
for these limb measurements, as it is likely to be many years before laboratory methods
can be used by travellers. The degree of error varies in the different places we worked
at ; probably it is never more than plus and minus 4 millimetres, sometimes it is
certainly less.

In Tables I.-VI. inclusive the head-measurements are set out according to a
principle which has been explained at length in a paper by one of the present authors
published in the Anthropological Journal.^ Its object is to substitute a more intelligible and
a more efficient method of tabulation for the cumbrous lists and the ambiguous binomial
curves which are ordinarily employed. Two dimensions are included in each table ;
in Table I., which may be taken to illustrate the case, they are the maximum length

* Flower's craniometer was used.

t Recent Anthropometrical work in Egypt, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xxx. (new series, iii.).

100 LIBYAN NOTES

and the maximum breadth of the head. A quadrilateral chart is made embracing the
whole area, within which the measurements can fall, and is divided up into squares like a
chessboard. The figures of the absolute measures * are then written along the top (and
bottom) and the two sides, the length being put in the side-columns and the breadth
along the top (and bottom). There are then as many pigeon-holes as are needed in
which to place the specimens, and these pigeon-holes are thus already labelled with the
dimensions belonging to them.

The pigeon-holes have next to be filled. Every head (or skull as the case may be)
is given its own particular number, a " name-number " as it may be called, and this is
reserved for it alone through all the tables of the series ; so that all the measurements
belonging to any one individual can be found by merely following his number through
the various tables. The " name-numbers " are then placed in the squares to which
their dimensions assign them. In Table I. there are 57, in Table II. there are 50
specimens arranged on this method.

The diagonals which traverse the squares show the index resulting from the ratio
of the two absolute measures, the value of the index being written at the end of each
diagonal in the blank column left for that purpose at the top and bottom of the
quadrilateral chart.

It will be seen that by this method it is possible to show graphically within a
small compass no less than five important points, viz. : —

(i) The absolute length ; (2) the absolute breadth ; (3) the index resulting from
these ; (4) the distribution of the specimens according to their absolute dimensions ;
(5) the distribution of the specimens according to the index.

The first six of our tables are arranged on this principle, Nos. i and 2 giving the
length and breadth of head with the cephalic index, Nos. 3 and 4 the length and
breadth of the upper facef with the resulting index, and Nos. 5 and 6 the length
and breadth of the nose with the nasal index.ij;

* The omission to record the absolute measures as well as the indices is one of the worst defects of the systems
commonly in use. Heads of extraordinarily different dimensions often give the same ratio, and no indication of this fact
is given. The same workers who stickle for a fraction of a millimetre in taking measurements think nothing of these
monstrous errors and omissions in tabulation.

t We may be called upon to defend the course we have taken in choosing the nasi-alveolar height as one of the
factors for the index of the upper face. It has been done quite deliberately in order to obtain an index which is directly
comparable with one which can be taken on the skull. It is eminently desirable to have measures which can be
thus compared.

\ In the centre of each of these quadrilateral tables there is a block enclosed within dotted lines. This is
intended to show the focus of distribution, and includes one quarter of the examples contained in the table. It has been

Table 1.

MAXIMUM LENGTH AND BREADTH OP HEAD [ABSOLUTE] AND CEPHALIC INDICES.

^tP IndLcts ^cP ^ftO ^eP _-^o ^^^ ^cP

170

169

168

167

166

164

163

162

161

160

159

158

157

156

155

154

153

152

151

150|149U48

147

146

145

144

143J142

141

14C

139

138

137

136

208
207

■^Q

20E

206
205

\
9

■20

2oe

20!

204
203

(

204

202
201

39^

202
201

200
199

8
\

200
19£

198
197

— \

198
197

196
195

— V

\
3

55
14

19(
196

194
193

53 ~

i
17'

47
40

•Si

'51'

•55'

swww

>»••

•

19^
19!

192
191

•
•

311

•
•
•

16'

19!
191

190
189

(5-

^ :

1.36

19(
189

188
187

■I-

*mmM'

isa

18'

186
185

36'::^

\
12

\
\

18(
18!

184
183

26
■1

184
18!
IM
181

182
181

48
\

)

180
179

\i:>*l ■^

180
179

178
177

^^°

17E
177

176
175

M>>

vtU

BRE

;ab

BSC

lEU

•

I7e
17!

170

169

168

167

166

164

163

162

161

160

159

158

157

156

154

163

152

151

150

149

148

147

146

146|l44

143

142

141

140

139

138

137

13^

Ini.c<^ ,1^ e'i" e,o"

^''^

Table 2.

KABYLE MEN.

MAXIMUM LENGTH AND BREADTH OF HEAD [ABSOLUTE] AND CEPHALIC INDICES.

^.-^^

9,0° rTwiitts na" 16° ii^ ^

■).» iQO 1

170

169

168

167

166

165

164

163

162

161

160

169

168

167

166

156

164

163

152

151

150

149

118

147

146

143

142

141

140

139

138

137

136

208
207

206
205

206
206

204
203

'32

204
203

202
201

200
199

198
197

•^

■\

198
197

196
196

•

\
5

•\

6
\

.^6

196
195

194
193

\
11

•

60^

44
,13

^is

23.
26

20
16

•

194
193
192
191

192
191

•

43.
27

1 i

190
189

1 — .—

J
:
'111;

190
189

188
187

!b.'

\
39

40''

36'
\

•-,

188
187

186
185

Si
ri

186
185

184
183

-^_

;?^

184
183

182

181

\
\

-.^

182
181

180
179

^•^N

180
179

178
177

176
175

KIT

Zlv

T IV

rrif

•HO

c a

T\T

IC-

Tir

T*a

— X

176

T7R

Table 3.

CHAWIA MEN.

NASI-ALVEOIiAE HEIGHT AND BIZYQOMATIC BREADTH [aBSOLITTE] WITH EEBULTINQ

bV^ Iniitis ftOP %qO ^e,o 1^

^ . . 1

77^

71 \

L6a

161

\
50

162
161

150
149

148
147

146
145

\
\

146

145

144
143

53N

144
143

142

141

142
141

140
139

44*

14
1

b6
16\

•••

Si"

»••<

• ••

...,

\
20,

140
139

138
137

-J
o
c8

•
•

24
18.

;
1

•

k
\

138
137

136
135

M'"

136
135

L34
133

29!

25
21

»•#•

>*Vi ••• j

134
133

132
131

\
33

132
131

130
129

34
\

\
1

130
129

128
127

126
126

126
125

124
123

122
121

VSI

-AI

>LA

:ei

SHI

B5C

It^

\
\

122
121

N
65

>64

IndMS fifto ^^6° ftftP ^nP iffi iso 1

Table 4.

KABYLE MEN.

NASI-ALVEOLAE HEIGHT AND BIZYGOMATIC BREADTH [ABSOLUTE] WITH RESULTING

^ Indicts ^<iO feO" 460 ^6,0 ]

77^

74^

62 61

152
151

150
149

\
\

160
149

148
147

146
145

\
\

\
9

146
145

144
143

\
\

10
\

\
44

144
143

142
141

til

»••

W>«'

«««

35^

■ ••»

142
141

140

139

1-1

40
36

20
\

24
32

140
139

138
137

\
2

\
, 3

138
137

136
136

••.

42^

26*

46«

136
136

134
133

132
131

37"

132

131

130
129

128

127

128
127

126
125

124
123

122
121

Sl-A

LVl

\0L

tJL

ISJi

T-

501

ITTE

122
121

67 1 66

Ir.i.cts^^" ^«>" b*'" b"*" <,o°

«^° 1

^ >i((*.suHs aitmjimtUK mlf uoutA fL asG^iikxa.

CHAWIA MEN.

LENGTH AND BBEADTH OP NOSE [ABSOLUTE] WITH NASAL INDICES.

Table 5.

R3«Jnic£Sf,90 56O 1

\
40

31 30

62
61

\
1

62
61

60
59

••l

8
\

60
59

58
57

56
55

44 V

34
16

40
\

56
55

54
53

\
\

\
24

\18

54
53

52
51

46
7

43
\

31
55

\
\

52
,51

50
49

52,

48
26

45 ^

\
49

20,

50
49

48
47

2
\

33
10

■39
3>

48
47

46
45

28^
9

46
45

44
43

11
\

44
43

Jn<L

cc«'

r,9«

160

\X^

(6"l°

KABYLE MEN.

LENGTH AND BEEADTH OF NOSE [ABSOLUTE] WITH NASAL INDICES.

filO J^^tJ 6^0 €,90 ^^0

62
61

60
59

58
57

\
10

.^^

58
57

56
55

\
35

^
36

56
55

54
53

\
49^

\
5

40
4 ,

54
53

52
51

34^

52
51

50
49

48
47

14
\

48
47

\
24

\
28

46
45

44
43

30
\

44
43

42
41

32^

29^

LrJ.S

n9^

<1\^

ttlmci.

Table 6.

zr'utr

Table 7.

CHAWIA MEN

VABIOUS MEASTJBE-
MBNTS, COLOURS OF
liYEB AND HAIB.

r^j-

-*Sw

o S

31=
1^

i=a^

»>
r

125

104

LBR

BLK

6^0

880

590

380

727

109

106

BLK

730

920

640

430

1
740

127

107

Kit

BtX

1
700

900

570

400

1
720

116

109

HZl

31*

570

830

610

310

550

113

110

HZl

BZIK

670

860

630

390

670

113

122

111

IH2I

655

860

590

1
370

720

IS-

112

108

HZl

BU<

765

920

RfiO

1
450

Z
841

H-T

128

HZl

BLK

, 1
'71fi

880

540

1 ■
370

R30

lli

114

107

BRA

1630

880

575

3^0

735

115

103

LBH

BLK

:630

840

640

360

1
695

lis

112

CBR

BLK

, 1
■675

850

600

360

1
760

111

101

BLK

—

IS-

122

101

IBR

BtK

1
725

835

540

330

820

us-

125

107

690

875

630

410

1
770

128

100

BLK

'625

875

640

390

i
720

IXB

121

IBB

BLK

680

900

655

1
385

685

123

106

Blk

750

900

620

1
425

1
840

121

100

HZt

1
640

860

610

1
330

1
710

117

112

HO.
BR.

nsf

1700

850

640

400

1
740

118

103

IBR

790

910

655

460

I
780

US'

122

740

950

630

420

795

119

111

BLK

1
745

925

630

I
420

1
800

106

115

BLK

1
845

870

550

340

1
795

116

113

DBR

BtK

, —

—

126

100

J3R

BLK

i
735

890

590

1
400

1
850

118

107

IfflH

BLK

680

880

580

1
365

1
760

124

DBR

BLK

730

910

625

450

1
785

188

111

HZL

BL>

690

870

620

380

I
745

lis

123

BLK

" 755

920

660

I
440

i
850

123

101

BLJ

1
745

880

615

1
420

860

I«0(

123

106

K2I

i
860

930

R60

1
550

2
000

Xh-T

130

1
720

865

630

1
410

780

3sr

120

DBA

6^0

830

575

sio

800

3S-

132

100

1
69C

925

550

340

740

113

107

BIX

680

890

590

1
350

650

188

112

100

3LK

730

865

580

400

1
725

125

105

BLK

1
760

920

620

1
410

1
805

115

3/,X

I
765

910

580

1
360

1
780

l^CX

116

100

BLX

760

900

600

1
390

1
820

126

106

BLK

1
590

850

580

300

1
590

its'

122

Six.

vmr

6^0

840

570

1
400

i
730

IHX

135

106

BLK

1
665

860

540

410

i
710

120

111

BEX

685

870

610

400

1
670

113

138

112

BtK

765

910

655

485

1
795

116

105

■LBR

BLK

1
690

940

590

1
380

I
695

llfS-

126

116

BLK

1
775

910

690

1
495

1
785

126

106

BR,

660

855

655

1
450

I
665

PCX

118

110

BLK

1
655

850

640

1
410

120

106

IBB

BLK

1
R60

860

610

1
385

680

136

110

BLK

710

885

600

1
440

790

isr

121

104

HBR

BLK

785

950

610

440

1
770

122

110

BLK

670

885

600

1
390

I
725

icx

132

110

LffN

BLK

1
780

860

650

500

1
755

115

104

115

113

^^,

123

103

BCK

•_

,^m

IB 126|

106

BLK

—

— .

Table 8.

KABYLE MEN

VABIOTJS MEASUBB-
MENTS, COLOURS OP
ETES AND HAIR.

1^^

i^a

nsj-

JUSb

laa

ivx

lac

ICVB

31>

i^a

377B

IFB

117

130

125

127

122

120

109

126

129

124

130

129

126

128

116

108

106

117

123

133

122

115

117

103

106

102

110

104

108

106

I-

LBR

102 BR

Ofr

BtK

BDC

BIX

BLK

lBn3LK

SIK

BLX

BIK

100

117

109

101

115

104 EBB

105

107

105

110

109

105

106

102

lUB

IB^

XJ^

120

Xl^

IXV

^k^

XUl,

li^

1%X

45 PCX

llf

112

106

110

119

123

120

124

122

111

125

118

113

120

117

124

122

117

107

iscx 118

108

121

120

124

104

109

tBH a-

G5N

K2I

-as:

CBH BLX

PBH

BfC

101

106

111

114

106

108

101

102

113

111

102

106

105

100

102

111

107

DBR

tBH

620 870

750

720

670

720

740

1
780

730

1
815

670

SIK 730

BtK

BIK

BtK

BLK

RBK

RBR

IBH

HZl

HIL

H2L

BLK

7^0

665

760

iilji^ i

950

900

890

920

890

905

580

595

300

450

620 410

565

640

670 450

680

910

980

865

920

905

880

610

710

685

1
550

630

700

BLK 720

730

3V0

680

1
615

665

BLK 645

1
805

BtK 600

580|

910

905

890

885

815

860

930

925

913

870

910

860

865

870

940

850

DBH72O

BtK

BIX

BIK

WW 725

BLK

BtK

BIK

BIX

BIK

BLK

BtK

V^fl

BIX

BtK

670

795

670

]
710

700

650

1
815

680

6'7C

615

1
660

1
700

520

680

630

T
720

620

650

890

635

720

600

570

630

595

660

580

630

690

580

625

620

580

590

600

660

570

705

370

410

520

430

625

710

780

695

700

730

820

520

380

410

440

360

475

315

435

420

270

290

350

425

420

3^801

370

340,

390

320

590

875

905

930

980

920

980

870

850

930

870

880

835

850

820

870

860

870

850

835

530

600

580

660

630

600

640

580

700

620

570

630

550

620

615

610

540

610

1
5101

730

T
810

745

805

775

800

TSOi

6401

780

685

1
530

660

665

780

760,

700

610

640

700

3*10

250

1
415

350

480

360

410

400

350

500

380

370

T
320

1
370

1
405

230

400

350

390

1
3201

350

800

810

520

800

730

770

6^50

1
750

750

690

1
710

840,

750

6201

650

1
710

530

690

620

T
710

1
690

700

abjiimimaCt. only

xarxMS
itniUi

?lof gftow. ajt lUuaiTutts

TtuL llawiiS /-S OjA uiul
te Jirultl OvL 9Uisal titts
(d-'llatliaMi ^cunisjuili,
cwt nbrmLuiA otl tii&

of-ttisi. tiqiMUanitoAjL
Swiml Hfius anbatsocutt
iA, luttK Onodir' &iu imma

Om: dik. runt ci cmrJioiami.

otiun/rtd t!jbis,m, wftleJu

timlfuufujcku mtaJoL.
OUlaiiunaJ. Siinsan

CX = COTt.vtX

CY = Ccmtajm.

3 - ^tumtbaintUj

F = - fLcct:

Tlota.tion rf Colgwrs

BR=^T«um.
IBK-JC^y^Snuni.
DBR= XfOurkBfOum

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HAWIA OF BOUZINA AURES.

16.

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Hk.

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28.

20.

17.

18.

14,

41. (?)

15.

CHAWIA OF EL BAALI-AURES.

PLATE XXL

43.

45.

ii£ — ^

}

48.

--■1

''"^'

l»^ .L

47.

■ ^'*»,

44.

46.

42.

A KABYLE OF TAZAIRT
AND IGHIL'ALL

12.

ABYLES OF TAZATRT AND IGHIL'ALl.

i ■"

.^^

.^.;,

l^jMl '

vl.

NX^'fe-'j*

10.

11.

16.

KABYLES OF TAZAIRT AND IGHIL'ALI.

PLATE XXIII.

17.

15.

14.

13.

PLATE XXIV.

KABYLES OF TAMAOSHT.

-■■'

i ^^^^^

/M.

^■-\.--

^^.-^

L^te^:

HEADS OF BERBERS— VAULT VIEW.

PHYSICAL TYPE OF THE BERBERS

lOI

In Tables VI. and VII. are given in serial form the two remaining facial measures
(viz. facial height from nasion to chin, and bigonial breadth) which it was not
convenient to treat by the method of the quadrilateral chart. In the same two tables
are included the observations on eyes, hair, and form of nose, and the five limb-measure-
ments which we considered to be worth taking.* The nasal types which are used
as standards have been reproduced at the side of the tables in order to facilitate
reference.

The provenance of the various specimens is as follows : —

Chawta.
Nos. 1-9 are from El-Arbaa.
Nos. 10-41 are from Bou-Zina.
Nos. 42-57 are from El-Baali.

Kabyles.

Nos. 1-32 are from Ighil Ali and Taza'irt.
Nos. 33-50 are from Tamaosht.

The portraits shown in Plates XX.-XXV. were taken at the same five places. Some
of them represent individuals who appear in the measurements ; in this case they are
labelled with their respective numbers. Of these which are not numbered the great
majority were not measured ; one or two enter into the tables of measurement, but their
identity has been lost. Plate XXV. exhibits the vault view of twenty-four heads of
Berbers.f We would call particular attention to the photographs in this plate, as, though
they are not by any means technically perfect, they constitute a new departure in method.
The vaults of the heads are exactly what are wanted for comparison with the crania
of ancient races, and photographs are an invaluable supplement to measurements. The
orientation of these specimens is such as always to show the occipital point ; sometimes
the nose appears, sometimes it is hidden, that depends entirely on the shape of the
head.J

well objected that as this focus is practically in the centre of the table (being obtained by excluding an equal number of
specimens on each side vertically and horizontally) it is quite artificial. It must be admitted that while it would work
perfectly in tabulating the measurements of a pure race, yet in ordinary cases it does not express the true mathematical
graduation. It corresponds to a symmetrical but not to an unsymmetrical binomial curve. This central block is,
however, a quite unessential feature of the tables, and can easily be disregarded by those who do not approve of it.

* Viz. stature ; sitting height ; height from the ground to the tip of the second finger ; height from the ground
to the shoulder ; maximum span from end of second finger of one hand to end of second finger of the other.

t Chawia and Kabyles, but all except three or four are Chawfa.

\ These vaults were taken with a turning-table on the camera, so that the lens was pointed directly downwards, and
the subject sat on the ground underneath it. One of the operators then got on to several chairs and focussed, while the
other held the head in position and indicated the occipital point with his finger. The focussing is sometimes incorrect,
as the victims were very restive.

CHAPTER XIV

Conclusions derived from the Craniological Evidence

THE prehistoric EGYPTIANS WERE NOT LIBYANS

It has now to be considered what light this new material throws upon the ethnological
connections of Libya. In treating of this question we assume, as is invariably done,
that the modern Berbers are the descendants of the races which were known to the
Egyptians of the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties, and to the Greeks and Romans, under
the generic name of Libyans. Secondly, we assume that the Chawia and Kabyles of
Algeria may be considered as typical representatives of this stock. The problem to be
dealt with may be thus stated — of what kind was the connection between Libya and
Egypt, not at the later period when the Berber hordes threatened the kings of the
nineteenth and twentieth dynasties, but in the very early days of the prehistoric*
Egyptians ?

It has already been shown that in respect of culture there are marvy and close
resemblances between the prehistoric Egyptians and the Libyans. But it cannot be too
strongly maintained that connection of culture gives little or no ground for inferring
identity of race ; indeed, the wider the area over which any given type of civilisation is
spread the less likely does it become that the various peoples who are subject to its
influence are ethnologically identical. The close interrelation of their culture justifies
us in inquiring whether the early inhabitants of Egypt may have been Libyans, but this
is all that it can be allowed to do ; it cannot appreciably influence, much less finally
determine, the decision of the question.

The problems of identity and diflference of race belong properly to the student of

* In this chapter, as in all other places, unless a special distinction is made, we use the term " prehistoric " to
include the entire period up to the fourth dynasty, though the later stages of it should perhaps rather be called
" proto-dynastic."

CONCLUSIONS DERIVED FROM CRANIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 103

physical anthropology. Anthropometry, which is the branch of this study that has
most nearly attained to any considerable degree of exactness, may be frequently in-
competent to fulfil the functions assigned to it, but in some cases it can give a clear
answer, and in all cases it has a title to be first consulted. What then has anthropo-
metry to say on the question whether the prehistoric Egyptians were or were not
Libyans ? The answer is most definite and explicit. The prehistoric Egyptians were
a mixed race, the component elements of which it is difficult to analyse with exactness,
but this mixed race as a whole was not Berber.

The ground on which we base this somewhat unexpected conclusion is chiefly and
in the first place the cephalic index, which, if dethroned from the position of infalli-
bility which it once held, yet remains the most valuable of criteria when employed
with a proper discrimination. For while it is true that the proportion of the length
to the breadth of the head, which is expressed by the cephalic index, may sometimes
yield identical results or races which more detailed supplementary observations prove
to be wholly unrelated ; yet it is impossible to maintain that two peoples are ethno-
logically related if the cephalic index reveals conspicuous differences between them in
respect of the breadth of the head. In brief, the negative value of this test is incom-
parably greater than its affirmative value. It is the strongest of allies to one who is
criticising, the weakest of all to one who is seeking to establish a theory of con-
nections.

At this point may be inserted a comparative table of the measurements to which
reference is about to be made.

[Table

I04

LIBYAN NOTES

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CONCLUSIONS DERIVED FROM CRANIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 105

Leaving the series of females out of consideration for the moment, it is at once
apparent that the cephalic index of the living Berbers whom we examined is strikingly
different from that of the prehistoric Egyptians. Of the latter there are four separate
series from these different sites, making up a total of some 250 male examples, and all
the series agree very closely together. The median index for the prehistoric Egyptian
is between 712 and 721, which puts them among the very long-headed races comparable
with Melanesians, Australians, Veddahs, Eskimo, and (which is much more important)
with the Long Barrow race of England, the prehistoric people of the Beaumes Chandes
cavern in France, and the few specimens which have been found at Lake Ladoga.

Our Chawia and Kabyles, on the other hand, show a median index of 773 (Chawia
772, Kabyles JJS)^ which is in close agreement with the mean of 764 obtained by
Prengrueber on 184 Kabyles of Palestro, and of 767 resulting from the measurements
of various anthropologists on a series of 180 Berbers of Biskra. These three series give
a total of 471 specimens, so that in comparing the ancient and the modern Libyan we
are dealing with a quite unusually large number of examples on each side, and may
fairly consider the results to be representative. Now between 764, which is the lowest
index obtained on the Berbers, and 721, which is the highest obtained on any series of
prehistoric Egyptians, there is a gulf which cannot be bridged.* With the most liberal
allowance for the difference between the living specimen and the skull, the modern
Berber evidently falls not into the long-headed, but into the sub-dolichocephalic class,
approaching closely to the mesaticephalic.

Again, the mean cephalic index of fifty-three skulls of modern Berbers from Biskra
was 742 for the men and 771 for the women. Faidherbe's series from the dolmens
gave 753 in a series in which the difference between the sexes was not observed ; and
if the male and female specimens of the Biskra skulls be grouped together the result
is a mean of 750, which tallies well with Faidherbe's, and shows that the suggestion
that the Berbers have become more round-headed owing to Roman, Vandal, or even later
European influence, is as little confirmed by anthropometry as it is countenanced by
history. These measurements upon the skulls are less to be trusted as giving a pure
Berber type than are the measurements upon the living, for the dolmens may contain

* Note, we have not even taken the extreme cases to exemplify our vitw. Probably the 712 of the earliest
Abydos series represents the early Egyptian more accurately than the 721 of Hou, which, embracing all stages of the pre-
historic period, has probably some of the less long-headed people of the fourth dynasty invasion included. Probably also
our median of 773, resulting from measurements taken in the heart of the mountains, gives the Berber type better than the
series from Palestro and Biskra, where a slight Arab infusion is to be feared.

io6 LIBYAN NOTES

other bodies as well as those of Berbers ; and nothing is more likely than a mixture of
some Arab examples with the Berber skulls at Biskra. Still, even allowing for such
possible defects in the series, the measurements on the skulls give as little support as
those on the living specimens to the view of those who would affiliate the Berbers to
the early Egyptians ; the difference between 742 and 721 (rather probably 712) is too
great to be explained away.

It is curious that the female skulls in the series of prehistoric Egyptians from Hou
show an index so much higher than that of the male skulls. But though it is not
known with certainty what is the standard variation between the two sexes, yet the
measurements that are extant of so pure a race as the Andaman islanders suggest that
twenty-two units is not beyond the limits of sexual variation in an unmixed stock ; and
it is noticeable that Topinard's series of Biskra skulls shows a sexual variation of no less
than twenty-nine units. It is clearly not permissible, therefore, to compare the Egyptian
females with the Berber males.

It results that the Berber in no way resembles the representatives of the long-headed
races. He is at present, and was also at a period certainly not later than the early
Roman Empire, a man with a head which, though narrow in comparison with that of
a Celt, a Ligurian, or a Lapp, is far broader than that of the truly dolichocephalic
races. He is to be compared not to these, but rather to the ancient Germans of the
Reihengraber, and to some of the mixed races of modern Europe.

The cephalic index then absolutely forbids any identification of the prehistoric
Egyptians with the Berbers. Such other criteria as can be brought to bear are little
less decisive. The alveolar index — unfortunately never quite satisfactory owing to the
vicious method employed to express it — places the prehistoric Egyptians among the
orthognathous races, judging by the median ; but there are many individual specimens
which show a considerable degree of prognathism, and, although we have only our own
ocular observations to rely upon for this particular, it may be confidently asserted that
the Berber is not prognathous.

The nasal index varies considerably in the two largest series of prehistoric
Egyptians, being 530 and 550 for the males of Nagada, and only 501 for the males of
Hou. Now it is of course impossible to institute a direct comparison between the nasal
index of a skull and that of a living person ; but though the measurement taken is not
the same measurement in the two cases, yet the purpose is the same, viz. to discover the
ratio of the breadth to the length of the nose. Accordingly, if the class-groupings of

CONCLUSIONS DERIVED FROM CRANIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 107

narrow and broad noses be followed, it is possible to compare the results obtained upon
the skull and the living head, not indeed by means of figures, but by means of the
classes into which these figures are respectively grouped. It will then appear that both
the Nagada and the Hou specimens are Mesorhine ; although the former are on the
border between Mesorhine and Platyrhine, while the latter are in the very centre of the
Mesorhine class. On the other hand, the Berbers whom we measured only just enter
into Topinard's Mesorhine class ; * or, if they are considered as two groups instead of
one, the Chawia of the Aures fall into the Leptorhine, and the Kabyles proper into the
lower margin of the Mesorhine. Prengrueber's 184 Kabyles of Palestro are actually
quite Leptorhine, with an index of 665. While, therefore, the nose of the men of
Nagada and Hou, especially the former, is inclined to be coarse and broad, the nose of
the Berber is of a fineness comparable to that of good European types.

The three tests, therefore, which are more valuable for the differentiation of races
than any others, the cephalic, the alveolar, and the nasal index, show that the pre-
historic Egyptians, so far from resembling the Berbers, are strongly contrasted with them
in respect of breadth of head, projection of profile, and breadth of nose.

In face of these results it is impossible any longer to maintain the view that the
prehistoric Egyptians were Libyans.f

It may be worth inquiring whether, having ousted the Libyans from their supposed
place as inhabitants of Egypt in prehistoric days, we can find any proof of their presence
in Egypt at other dates. After the fifth dynasty certainly they never inhabited Egypt
in sufficient numbers to alter the racial type of the inhabitants, however many isolated
inroads or even temporary occupations may have occurred.

In the fourth and fifth dynasties the case is different ; it is a curious fact that the
unfortunately rather small series of measurements which are available for this period
give results agreeing very fairly with the Berber type, viz. cephalic index 760 or 763,
nasal index 480, alveolar index 940 to 960. But the distinction that has been
established must here be borne in mind ; anthropometry is a powerful instrument when

* Topinard divides the nasal indices of the living into classes as follows : — Platyrhine 1089-891, Mesorhine 814-690,
Leptorhine 690-630.

t In a paper published by one of the present authors in the Journ. Anthrop. Inst. XXX. (N.S. iii.), the ordinary view
which identified the two races was given some countenance. The paper in question was, however, written long before
the material considered in the present chapter had become available.

io8 LIBYAN NOTES

employed negatively, but weak in affirmation. When it shows differences it is incontro-
vertible, when it attempts to show resemblances it must give way before any strong
opposing evidence. And in this case the opposing evidence is very strong indeed. So
far from Archaeology allowing even a prima facie case for inquiring whether the
Egyptians of the fourth and fifth dynasties are racially affiliated to the Libyans, it
absolutely denies any such possibility. It is precisely at this period that all traces of
Libyan culture vanish ; the pottery, the designs, the burial customs are all changed,
the potmarks are replaced by hieroglyphs, and a wholly new phase of civilisation appears
in Egypt. If it is impossible to find the Berbers in Egypt in prehistoric times, it is
doubly impossible to see in them the race that built the pyramids and introduced the
hieroglyphs.

One more contingency may be considered. The prehistoric Egyptians at the very
earliest period at which they are found were evidently a mixed race. If, then, the
country had already experienced various immigrations even before the earliest dawn of
the Copper age, may not one of these aboriginal stocks have been of Berber origin ? It
may be so. The geographical distribution of races and civilisations, as it is observed in
later times, might be plausibly explained in this way. The whole of North Africa, from
Tangier to Suez, would then have been occupied by a homogeneous Berber stock ;
which spread over into Syria and was there represented by the fair-skinned Amorites and
by the builders of those dolmens, which- are so characteristic of the west, and so alien
to the genius of Chaldaean and Mesopotamian civilisation. At a slightly later period
the connections would be cut by the pushing into Egypt of the long-headed race of
Nagada, Hou, and Abydos.

But there is no anthropometrical evidence to support this theory, and until such
evidence is forthcoming it must remain a mere suggestion.

CHAPTER XV

General Conclusion

indigenous and borrowed elements in the culture of prehistoric egypt

position occupied by libya in the intercourse of the mediterranean

The result of this whole investigation has been to show that Libya and early Egypt
were not united by any ties of race ; but that they were in sufficiently close contact with
one another or with some common centre to have developed a culture which was in some
important respects identical. While, however, too little is known of the early civilisation
of the Berbers to permit of stating whether it exhibited any characteristics alien to
Egypt, it is certain that the prehistoric Egyptians were acquainted with developments
of art of which no trace is to be found in Libya. In order, therefore, to determine the
relation in which the two countries stood to one another it is necessary to estimate how
much of the artistic production of Professor Petrie's " New Race " may have been
borrowed from Libya, or at least from a source common to Libya and Egypt, how
much may have been independently evolved, and how much acquired from sources
unconnected with North Africa.

It has been shown that at least three of the clearly differentiated classes of " New
Race " pottery are to be traced in Algeria. The Red pottery with white ornamentation
is practically identical in both countries ; some of the most characteristic forms of the
" Late " pottery occur in both ; and in both alike is found a Red ware, which in
Egypt is the direct ancestor, not only of the white -ornamented Red but also of
the Black-topped ware.

On the other hand no trace is found in Algeria of the Wavy-handled or of the
Black-topped pottery ; nor, in spite of an occasional similarity of motive, can the New
Race "Decorated" be identified as Algerian.

no LIBYAN NOTES

The Black-topped pottery gives every indication of being a native product of
Egypt. It is the lineal descendant of the Red ware, but by an evolution which seems
to have been peculiar to the country in which it is found. At some time the accidents
of firing must have revealed to the Egyptian potter the special quality possessed by
a haematite facing, that a limitation of the access of air will de-oxidise the red to
black, while the red of the oxide remains wherever the surface is freely exposed to
the air (see Nagada and Ballas, p. 37). The use of this peculiar pottery seems to be
almost entirely confined to Egypt,* and there can be no doubt that it is an indi-
genous product.

Equally characteristic of the New Race is the use of a pottery with ledge handles,
which in the finest early forms project about an inch from the surface and are marked
with a strong undulation. As the process of manufacture becomes more familiar the type
degenerates, and the ledges become less prominent, the undulations less accentuated, and
the forms less shapely ; until the later stages show a cylindrical jar surrounded merely
by an incised line {Nagada and Ballas, p. 38). Was this class of pottery indigenous from
the very first ? or was it originally imported and subsequently developed by imitation ?

The Wavy-handled, like the Black-topped pottery, is not confined to Egyptian soil.
It is found on pre-Jewish sites in Syria of the date of about 1800 B.C. (Bliss, Mound of
Many Cities, iii. 84, 87), and is there considered by Professor Petrie to belong to the
Amorites, which suggests an origin for it among that eastern branch of the Berbers. It
cannot be said to be really known outside Egypt and Syria, though there is one sporadic
case of the occurrence of a late type of Wavy-handled jar on Italian soil.f Much of the
pottery from prehistoric sites in North Italy preserved in the Bologna Museum shows a
well-marked ledge handle, but without undulations ; so that this cannot be considered
to be identical with the Wavy-handled Egyptian ware.§ This class of pottery then
seems to be indigenous tither in Egypt or in Syria, perhaps in both. If preference
must be given to one or other of the two it is probable that Syria has the better claim
to have originated it ; as the fine early types are found to be still flourishing there long
after the time at which the Egyptians had wholly forgotten not only the originals but

* The only exception is in Cyprus, where haematitic Red ware, with analogous Black-topped varieties, is character- .
istic of the earlier Bronze Age ; but is probably due to Egyptian influences : — see Cyprus Museum Catalogue, p. 17.

t Viz. on the site of Matera in Apulia, see Monumenti Antichi, vol. viii. (" Un villagio Siculo presso Matera," Fig. 102).

§ On the other hand broken sherds from prehistoric graves in Bohemia (Prag Museum) might be thought to show a
degraded wavy handle. But it is probably nothing more than a string-course like that found on early British pottery, and
it would be dangerous to base any theory on its occurrence.

GENERAL CONCLUSION iii

even the degraded derivations from them. In 1800 b.c. there were no Wavy-handled
pots being made in Egypt which the Amorites could have imported ; and were it
maintained that the Amorite pottery of this date is a survival in the country of a type
introduced from Egypt in " New Race " times, then the apparent preference for the
rare older forms to the exclusion of the very common cylinder shapes would need to
be explained.

The " Decorated " pottery was considered, when first found, to be an importation.
But the discovery by Mr. F. W. Green at Hierakonpolis in 1 899 of a " New Race "
tomb painted all over with designs similar to those which occur on this ware tells
against such a conclusion. The motives are not of a kind which need necessarily be
considered to be foreign. The occurrence of ostriches proves nothing more than a
familiarity with Africa ; the boats may quite as well be river boats for the Nile as sea-
going galleys (indeed the absence of sails makes it more probable) ; lastly, the so-called
" mountain " motive is found also on the white-ornamented Red ware. Some of the
decorations suggest an affinity with Berber patterns ; but the constant occurrence of
spirals, which are unknown in Kabyle work, renders derivation from this quarter
improbable. On the whole it seems likely that the " Decorated " ware is of native
origin in Egypt ; but that the local artists employed a few of the patterns which they
possessed in common with the Libyans, and which had become part of their general
stock in trade.

The Black pottery with patterns incised in white is certainly imported, as was
suggested when it was originally discovered {Nagada and Ballas, p. 38). Though
found at various widely-separated points of the Mediterranean littoral its original source
has not yet been identified. We greatly doubt the suggested connection with the
Italian bucchero nero.

It is found then that of the seven classes of pottery used by the prehistoric
Egyptians three are common to them and the Berbers of Algeria ; one is common to
them and the eastern Berbers (Amorites) ; two are of native origin ; and one is imported
from a certainly non-Berber source.

With regard to designs it has been pointed out how many of these are identical
among the "New Race," and the Kabyles. Each of the two peoples may be
said to possess a certain number which do not appear in the products of the
other ; but while the Kabyles have few that are quite distinctive and peculiar, there
are many " New Race " motives which never appear in Kabyle work. Such are the

112 LIBYAN NOTES

spiral (which, however, may be seen on Touareg vessels of skin), the boats, the human
figures, the animals, the standards, and the "aloes," all of which are of frequent
occurrence upon the " Decorated " pottery.

To leave now the questions of pottery and of designs, it might have been thought
safe to assert that the extraordinary skill which they display in the working of flint was
peculiar to the " New Race " Egyptians. But the discovery of flint rings in graves in
the Algerian Sahara, lately made by M. Jus, in the course of his engineering work,*
shows that such an assertion would be erroneous. For the manufacture of flint rings
and bangles marks almost the perfection of neolithic art ; and the craftsmen who could
successfully produce such can have been little if at all inferior to those who made the
wonderful flint knives which are found in " New Race " graves in Egypt.

On the other hand it may be considered certain that the rare copper implements
which the " New Race " imported from Cyprus, or the east, never reached Libya.
Again, neither in North Africa or elsewhere do we know of anything to be compared to
the fine stone vessels, the slates, and the ivory carvings which are amongst the most
characteristic products of the prehistoric and proto-dynastic Egyptians.

The numerous coincidences, however, which have been shown to exist in the
details of their arts and crafts, prove that very close commercial relations must have
existed in prehistoric days between Egypt and her North African neighbours ; which
indeed might be naturally inferred from the mere circumstance of their geographical
proximity.

But in this commerce which was the originator and which was the semi-passive
recipient ? or did each to some extent borrow from the other ? A natural prejudice
inclines the archaeologist to suppose that it was the Egyptians who possessed the
superior skill, and who supplied their products to their less civilised neighbours without
deriving much from the latter in return ; but after all there is not sufficient evidence to
justify any confident assertion upon the point. It is true that the Egyptians, even in
these prehistoric days, were fairly advanced in civilisation ; but that is not in itself a
conclusive reason for supposing that they were greatly superior to the Libyans. For
while we have direct knowledge of all that concerns the " New Race," we are obliged
to infer what was the early condition of the Berbers from their position in much later
times. And it does not necessarily follow because the Libyans at a later date were a com-
paratively barbarous people that they were equally inferior to the Egyptians at the first.

* See reference in Evans' Further Discoveries of Cretan and Aegean Script, p. 381.

GENERAL CONCLUSION 113

Progress in civilisation is often fitful and intermittent, at one period rapid at another
very slow. It may well be that when excavations are undertaken in the still untried
regions of Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, the Libyans will be found to have possessed a
culture far superior to any with which they have hitherto been credited ; or again that,
when more has been learned of the earliest beginnings of Spain, archaeologists may come
to regard the west no less than the east of the Mediterraneari as the cradle of early
civilisations.

So far, however, as present knowledge avails, it is natural to suppose that the
Libyans derived more from the Egyptians than they gave to them in return ; and this
view receives some countenance from a study of the prehieroglyphic script which Mr.
Evans has discovered in Crete, and which he and Professor Petrie have identified with
the marks on prehistoric Egyptian pots. A certain number of these signs have been
shown to be identical with those found on the Libyan stelae and with the " Tifinagh "
alphabet of the modern Touaregs ; but there seems to be a much closer affinity between
the Egyptian and Cretan systems than there is between either of these and the ancient
or modern Berber alphabet. It is as though the Berbers occupied a position somewhat
distant from the main source of influence and picked up what they could at secondhand,
some of the force and meaning of the original being lost in the process of transmission.

When all these various details are taken into consideration it may be permissible to
conceive the early civilisation of the Mediterranean as originating from a centre which
may be placed in or near Egypt ; or perhaps rather from two separate but not uncon-
nected centres, one of which was in Egypt and the other at some point in the Aegean,
which has not yet been determined.* From each of these there extended waves
of influence of varying intensity, westwards as far as the Pillars of Hercules, east-
wards as far as Syria and the nearer regions of Asia. The Berbers were naturally,
from their geographical position, placed midway between the focus of activity and the
western limits of its radiation. They received, therefore, much that originated in
Egypt and the Aegean, and passed it on to their western neighbours ; while in return
they acted as the intermediaries, who transmitted whatever knowledge or art had been
independently evolved by the Iberians and their kinsmen who lived at the limits of the
western world. "^

* Possibly Crete. This seems to be the trend of Mr. Evans' discoveries in that island.
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